Friday, December 26, 2003
Dt 27 don't destroy the community
I’m ready now to return to Deuteronomy 27:14-26 which is a series of curses to which the people are required to say, “Amen.” They can be summarized as follows:
Cursed are those who...
1. make idols
2. dishonor parents
3. move boundary marker
4. mislead the blind
5. deprive aliens-orphans-widows of justice
6. have sex with father's wife
7. have sex with animals
8. have sex with sisters
9. have sex with mother-in-law
10. commit violence in secret
11. accept a bribe to do violence
12. disobey the law
The first and last of these curses form a bracket around the rest. To disobey the teachings of God is to disrespect God; disobedience is the substance of which making idols is the symbol. To make idols is the outward expression of in inward commitment to a value system foreign to the values of the God who saved us when we were fugitives and fell into slavery in Egypt.
The rest of the curses address three major aspects of the value-system that characterize the community created by obedience to God (which is to say, the Kingdom of God):
1. justice
Here we are concerned with the basic economy of the community. Parents not only raised us as children but are the link to our inheritance. Boundary markers are symbolic of the essential building block of the economy -- the means of wealth. But the wealth of the community is never understood in individualistic terms, it always includes the disabled (blind) and the marginalized (aliens-orphans-widows). Cursed is anyone who uses economics to destroy the fabric of the community.
2. sexual propriety
A rather odd assortment of sexual sins is named concerning incest and bestiality. I do not know why these are specified rather than some others. However, the concern is clear: sexual sin disorders the community both in the present (relationships sundered) and in the future (disease, deformity, psychological disorder). Cursed is anyone who uses sexuality to destroy the fabric of the community.
3. violence
The remaining two curses concern violence done is secret against members of the community. Secrecy, I suppose, refers to the fact that this violence is done outside of the social justice system. The first emphasizes that the victim is a neighbor, the second that the victim is innocent. In the first case, the violence is committed out of a personal motivation; in the second, the violence is done for hire. Cursed is anyone who uses violence to destroy the fabric of the community.
What does it mean to be cursed? In this case, it seems to me that the cursed one has fallen outside of the saving work of God. In particular, he or she has separated him or herself from the blessed community that knows the peace and prosperity of God that is caught up in the word "shalom." The worship of God is the way into this community.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Cursed are those who...
1. make idols
2. dishonor parents
3. move boundary marker
4. mislead the blind
5. deprive aliens-orphans-widows of justice
6. have sex with father's wife
7. have sex with animals
8. have sex with sisters
9. have sex with mother-in-law
10. commit violence in secret
11. accept a bribe to do violence
12. disobey the law
The first and last of these curses form a bracket around the rest. To disobey the teachings of God is to disrespect God; disobedience is the substance of which making idols is the symbol. To make idols is the outward expression of in inward commitment to a value system foreign to the values of the God who saved us when we were fugitives and fell into slavery in Egypt.
The rest of the curses address three major aspects of the value-system that characterize the community created by obedience to God (which is to say, the Kingdom of God):
1. justice
Here we are concerned with the basic economy of the community. Parents not only raised us as children but are the link to our inheritance. Boundary markers are symbolic of the essential building block of the economy -- the means of wealth. But the wealth of the community is never understood in individualistic terms, it always includes the disabled (blind) and the marginalized (aliens-orphans-widows). Cursed is anyone who uses economics to destroy the fabric of the community.
2. sexual propriety
A rather odd assortment of sexual sins is named concerning incest and bestiality. I do not know why these are specified rather than some others. However, the concern is clear: sexual sin disorders the community both in the present (relationships sundered) and in the future (disease, deformity, psychological disorder). Cursed is anyone who uses sexuality to destroy the fabric of the community.
3. violence
The remaining two curses concern violence done is secret against members of the community. Secrecy, I suppose, refers to the fact that this violence is done outside of the social justice system. The first emphasizes that the victim is a neighbor, the second that the victim is innocent. In the first case, the violence is committed out of a personal motivation; in the second, the violence is done for hire. Cursed is anyone who uses violence to destroy the fabric of the community.
What does it mean to be cursed? In this case, it seems to me that the cursed one has fallen outside of the saving work of God. In particular, he or she has separated him or herself from the blessed community that knows the peace and prosperity of God that is caught up in the word "shalom." The worship of God is the way into this community.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Merry Christmas
Just back from Christmas morning uprogrammed worship. This dialogue occurred to me there:
Jew, tell me your story.
Well, let’s see. My father? My father was a wandering Aramean, a fugitive. We were few in number, and went down to Egypt. There we grew in numbers, but we were harshly treated and oppressed. But God heard our cry, and with a mighty arm, he brought to this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Therefore, we give God the first fruit of all that we enjoy, as an expression of thanksgiving. And we invite the poor and the aliens to join us in our celebrations, because we remember that we were poor and aliens, ourselves.
So, Christian, what of you?
Yes, I follow a savior who was a refugee, just like your father. When he was a small child, his family fled persecution and they also traveled down to Egypt. When they thought it was safe, they returned to their homeland. But it was not a happy homecoming because the homeland was oppressed by a Roman army of occupation. When he grew up, my savior was arrested and executed as a criminal and rebel. But then, as Saul said, this same Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God ... by the resurrection from the dead.”
He has sent his Holy Spirit to us who reminds us of everything he taught us, how when we take care of the poor and visit people in prison we are having fellowship with him. So, just like you, it is our joy to welcome the poor and aliens to our table while we eagerly await the restoration of all things.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Jew, tell me your story.
Well, let’s see. My father? My father was a wandering Aramean, a fugitive. We were few in number, and went down to Egypt. There we grew in numbers, but we were harshly treated and oppressed. But God heard our cry, and with a mighty arm, he brought to this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Therefore, we give God the first fruit of all that we enjoy, as an expression of thanksgiving. And we invite the poor and the aliens to join us in our celebrations, because we remember that we were poor and aliens, ourselves.
So, Christian, what of you?
Yes, I follow a savior who was a refugee, just like your father. When he was a small child, his family fled persecution and they also traveled down to Egypt. When they thought it was safe, they returned to their homeland. But it was not a happy homecoming because the homeland was oppressed by a Roman army of occupation. When he grew up, my savior was arrested and executed as a criminal and rebel. But then, as Saul said, this same Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God ... by the resurrection from the dead.”
He has sent his Holy Spirit to us who reminds us of everything he taught us, how when we take care of the poor and visit people in prison we are having fellowship with him. So, just like you, it is our joy to welcome the poor and aliens to our table while we eagerly await the restoration of all things.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Dt 27-28 Following other gods
Deuteronomy 27-28 lays out consequences of obedience and disobedience. It turns out to raise the question, "What god are you following?"
Here are some of the blessings:
Deuteronomy 28:1-9 If you will only obey ... the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; 2 all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the LORD your God: 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, ... 7 The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. 8 The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
But, if you do not follow the teachings, there is a corresponding set of curses:
Deuteronomy 28: 27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with ulcers, scurvy, and itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind; 29 ... and you shall be continually abused and robbed, without anyone to help. 30 You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, but not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but not enjoy its fruit. ...32 Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people, while you look on; ... 33 ....you shall be continually abused and crushed, 34 and driven mad by the sight that your eyes shall see....
What is going on here? This note from the Jewish Study Bible (2004) on verse 27-35, gives a crucial hint:
"The sequence of punishments specified in this section initially seems arbitrary: skin inflammation; blindness; and loss of wife; house, and property. The sequence finds its explanation, however, in VTE [the Vassal Treaty of Esarhaddon] 39-43, where each curse is associated with a particular god within the Neo-Assyrian pantheon. the moon god Sin is responsible for leprosy; the sun god Shamash for blindness; and Dilpat (the planet Venus) for rape, dispossession, and pillage by a foreign army. The arrangement of the curses follows the rank of the deities within that pantheon's hierarchy."
It is not that "good things happen to obedient people" and "bad things happen to disobedient people." We can all observe that there is no one-on-one corollary like that in real life. That is the argument of the Book of Job. What this series of curses suggests, however, is that to those who turn away from God, God says, "I'm handing you over to the power of those other gods. Beware, for they have the power of death."
Instead of this, God offers salvation and the blessing of shalom.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Here are some of the blessings:
Deuteronomy 28:1-9 If you will only obey ... the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; 2 all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the LORD your God: 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, ... 7 The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. 8 The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
But, if you do not follow the teachings, there is a corresponding set of curses:
Deuteronomy 28: 27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with ulcers, scurvy, and itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind; 29 ... and you shall be continually abused and robbed, without anyone to help. 30 You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, but not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but not enjoy its fruit. ...32 Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people, while you look on; ... 33 ....you shall be continually abused and crushed, 34 and driven mad by the sight that your eyes shall see....
What is going on here? This note from the Jewish Study Bible (2004) on verse 27-35, gives a crucial hint:
"The sequence of punishments specified in this section initially seems arbitrary: skin inflammation; blindness; and loss of wife; house, and property. The sequence finds its explanation, however, in VTE [the Vassal Treaty of Esarhaddon] 39-43, where each curse is associated with a particular god within the Neo-Assyrian pantheon. the moon god Sin is responsible for leprosy; the sun god Shamash for blindness; and Dilpat (the planet Venus) for rape, dispossession, and pillage by a foreign army. The arrangement of the curses follows the rank of the deities within that pantheon's hierarchy."
It is not that "good things happen to obedient people" and "bad things happen to disobedient people." We can all observe that there is no one-on-one corollary like that in real life. That is the argument of the Book of Job. What this series of curses suggests, however, is that to those who turn away from God, God says, "I'm handing you over to the power of those other gods. Beware, for they have the power of death."
Instead of this, God offers salvation and the blessing of shalom.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Dt 26 on being a peculiar people
After giving out all the laws and instruction, Moses tells the people to go and offer the first fruit of their harvest and recount before the priests the story of their family: (Deuteronomy 26:5-9) how "My father was a fugitive Aramean" , and how he fled to Egypt but how they "dealt harshly with us and oppressed us" , and how, then, "the LORD heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression [and] the LORD freed us" , and "brought us to the a land flowing with milk and honey." This is the basic narrative of salvation. We were fugitives, poor and oppressed, but God heard our cry and brought us to the land of freedom.
So what is the response of the people to having been saved? First, we give back to God the very fruit of our the promise. This is the meaning of the whole sacrificial system: we would rather have the love of God than even the prosperity that God gives. "Here," we say to God, "we acknowledge that it is all yours, and none of our own."
Then, recalling the instructions in Chapter 14, we invite the Levites and the aliens and the poor to the great party we are instructed to finance with our tithe to express the inclusive community that is the kingdom of God:
11 And you shall enjoy, together with the Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that the LORD your God has bestowed upon you and your household.
And finally, comes the great summary of the covenant between God and us:
(TNK) Deuteronomy 26: 17 You have affirmed this day that the LORD is your God, that you will walk in His ways, that you will observe His laws and commandments and rules, and that you will obey Him.18 And the LORD has affirmed this day that you are, as He promised you, His treasured people who shall observe all His commandments,
Where this translation says we are "His treasured people," the King James reads, "a peculiar people." This was a title the early Quakers happily applied to themselves, particularly recalling the words in KJV 1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"
Let us ever remember that we are a family of fugitives, saved by the grace of God. We seek to extend that grace to all who find themselves also part of the family by virtue of the fact that they, too, suffer oppression.
This brings us from darkness into Light. It sounds like Christmas around here.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
So what is the response of the people to having been saved? First, we give back to God the very fruit of our the promise. This is the meaning of the whole sacrificial system: we would rather have the love of God than even the prosperity that God gives. "Here," we say to God, "we acknowledge that it is all yours, and none of our own."
Then, recalling the instructions in Chapter 14, we invite the Levites and the aliens and the poor to the great party we are instructed to finance with our tithe to express the inclusive community that is the kingdom of God:
11 And you shall enjoy, together with the Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that the LORD your God has bestowed upon you and your household.
And finally, comes the great summary of the covenant between God and us:
(TNK) Deuteronomy 26: 17 You have affirmed this day that the LORD is your God, that you will walk in His ways, that you will observe His laws and commandments and rules, and that you will obey Him.18 And the LORD has affirmed this day that you are, as He promised you, His treasured people who shall observe all His commandments,
Where this translation says we are "His treasured people," the King James reads, "a peculiar people." This was a title the early Quakers happily applied to themselves, particularly recalling the words in KJV 1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"
Let us ever remember that we are a family of fugitives, saved by the grace of God. We seek to extend that grace to all who find themselves also part of the family by virtue of the fact that they, too, suffer oppression.
This brings us from darkness into Light. It sounds like Christmas around here.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Monday, December 22, 2003
Dt 25 white collar crime
White collar criminals, take note:
Deuteronomy 25:13-16 13 You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, large and small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small. 15 You shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are abhorrent to the LORD your God.
The key words here, shalem and sedeq, are repeated twice in verse 15.
Shalem is a cognate of shalom/peace. As the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says, "The general meaning behind the root sh-l-m is of completion and fulfilment--of entering into a state of wholeness and unity, a restored relationship.... Adjectivally, sh¹l¢m is used of an attitude (a "perfect" heart; e.g. 1Kings 8:61; 1Chr 28:9), and of a complete amount (of money, Ruth 2:12; of sin, Gen 15:16; of a whole nation, Amos 1:6, 9). An accurate weight is called "perfect" (Deut 25:15) or "just" (Prov 11:1)."
Sedeq/justice is the key word we encountered a couple of chapters ago in the passages about an impartial judicial system. Like Shalem, Sedeq refers to the godly vision of a covenant community which treasures all of its members (wholeness) without regard to their economic status (equity).
Convinced by the demands of truth and equity, Quakers in the 17th century abandoned the system of bargaining over price, and set what they considered to be honest prices. At first customers were put off because they could not bargain the Quaker business people down -- but soon they were attracted by the growing sense of confidence that here they could get honest value without worry about being taken advantage of. This was the end of the bargain system as single-prices swept Europe.
The requirement of "a full and honest measure" means the end of white collar crime, and even the end of the value of "shrewd" business that takes advantage of others for gain. Ponzi schemes, double bookkeeping, even dishonest and misleading advertising -- all this is condemned. Why? God recognizes, even if we don't, that these white collar crimes do as much or more damage to the wholeness of the community than the petty thefts and assaults committed by the poor.
Enron executives, Savings and Loan presidents, Haliburton war-profiteers: you may get a "pass" from our corrupt judicial system, but there is One who has tried you and found you "abhorrent."
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Deuteronomy 25:13-16 13 You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, large and small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small. 15 You shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are abhorrent to the LORD your God.
The key words here, shalem and sedeq, are repeated twice in verse 15.
Shalem is a cognate of shalom/peace. As the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says, "The general meaning behind the root sh-l-m is of completion and fulfilment--of entering into a state of wholeness and unity, a restored relationship.... Adjectivally, sh¹l¢m is used of an attitude (a "perfect" heart; e.g. 1Kings 8:61; 1Chr 28:9), and of a complete amount (of money, Ruth 2:12; of sin, Gen 15:16; of a whole nation, Amos 1:6, 9). An accurate weight is called "perfect" (Deut 25:15) or "just" (Prov 11:1)."
Sedeq/justice is the key word we encountered a couple of chapters ago in the passages about an impartial judicial system. Like Shalem, Sedeq refers to the godly vision of a covenant community which treasures all of its members (wholeness) without regard to their economic status (equity).
Convinced by the demands of truth and equity, Quakers in the 17th century abandoned the system of bargaining over price, and set what they considered to be honest prices. At first customers were put off because they could not bargain the Quaker business people down -- but soon they were attracted by the growing sense of confidence that here they could get honest value without worry about being taken advantage of. This was the end of the bargain system as single-prices swept Europe.
The requirement of "a full and honest measure" means the end of white collar crime, and even the end of the value of "shrewd" business that takes advantage of others for gain. Ponzi schemes, double bookkeeping, even dishonest and misleading advertising -- all this is condemned. Why? God recognizes, even if we don't, that these white collar crimes do as much or more damage to the wholeness of the community than the petty thefts and assaults committed by the poor.
Enron executives, Savings and Loan presidents, Haliburton war-profiteers: you may get a "pass" from our corrupt judicial system, but there is One who has tried you and found you "abhorrent."
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Dt 24 vote Democratic
There are some gems in this chapter:
Deuteronomy 24; 5 If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. (TNK)
Note that in the Tanakh translation as in the NIV, we aren't instructed to worry about the man's happiness as much as wife's! There is plenty that is patriarchal and difficult in Deuteronomy, but God's concern for the wellbeing -- even the happiness -- of women comes through in the end.
Deuteronomy 24:6 Do not take a pair of millstones-- not even the upper one-- as security for a debt, because that would be taking a man's livelihood as security. (NIV)
As with the laws of warfare in chapter 20, this reminds us that God gives priority to the means of making a livilhood. Even the wars should not be allowed to interfere, and most certainly not indebtedness. Social welfare needs to concern itself with providing job training and loans for small business (read, stop subsidizing Haliburton).
Deuteronomy 24:14-15 You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns. 15 You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the LORD against you, and you would incur guilt.
In the U.S. this year, thousands of day-laborers -- usually those without green cards -- are robbed of their wages. Consider the threat: they might cry to God against us. Our Declaration of Independence speaks of having a "decent regard for the opinion of mankind" -- the Scriptures call us to have a regard for the opinion of the poor.
Deuteronomy 24:17 You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice....
One of these days, conservative Christians will start to take the authority of Scripture seriously. Then, they will not lead campaigns to deprive so-called "illegal aliens" of the right to education, health care, food stamps, much less the right to work.
Some of us choose to vote Democratic (despite deep misgivings over some issues, see yesterday's post, for instance) because the Dems at least show some regard to God's concern for the poor and the aliens.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
Deuteronomy 24; 5 If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. (TNK)
Note that in the Tanakh translation as in the NIV, we aren't instructed to worry about the man's happiness as much as wife's! There is plenty that is patriarchal and difficult in Deuteronomy, but God's concern for the wellbeing -- even the happiness -- of women comes through in the end.
Deuteronomy 24:6 Do not take a pair of millstones-- not even the upper one-- as security for a debt, because that would be taking a man's livelihood as security. (NIV)
As with the laws of warfare in chapter 20, this reminds us that God gives priority to the means of making a livilhood. Even the wars should not be allowed to interfere, and most certainly not indebtedness. Social welfare needs to concern itself with providing job training and loans for small business (read, stop subsidizing Haliburton).
Deuteronomy 24:14-15 You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns. 15 You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the LORD against you, and you would incur guilt.
In the U.S. this year, thousands of day-laborers -- usually those without green cards -- are robbed of their wages. Consider the threat: they might cry to God against us. Our Declaration of Independence speaks of having a "decent regard for the opinion of mankind" -- the Scriptures call us to have a regard for the opinion of the poor.
Deuteronomy 24:17 You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice....
One of these days, conservative Christians will start to take the authority of Scripture seriously. Then, they will not lead campaigns to deprive so-called "illegal aliens" of the right to education, health care, food stamps, much less the right to work.
Some of us choose to vote Democratic (despite deep misgivings over some issues, see yesterday's post, for instance) because the Dems at least show some regard to God's concern for the poor and the aliens.
Click "comments" to respond or add your thoughts.
