The Bible - Leviticus and Numbers

So as I have been continuing my reading, I have come to the book of Numbers. Through Leviticus and Numbers the Israelites are constantly grumbling and fearful of death resulting from their precarious position in the wilderness. And every time the LORD hears them, he is outraged. Well, if you had saved someone from slavery and brought them to a paradise land that you were going to give them on a silver platter and all they did was complain that they hadn't had meat to eat since they left Egypt and that the people in your new land were so big and scary, you would be angry too! But the thing that I find interesting is that Moses is able to calm God down! Imagine that. The creator of the universe, fuming mad because his people are whining and rebelling, simmered down by a single man and his pleas for forgiveness. Absolutely incredible.

I am also struck by the humanness of Moses. God asked him to speak to a rock to get water from it for the people. (sounds strange right? apparently from what I have read it is supposed to be telling of the future relationship between God and Man through Christ... I don't remember how that works though.) But he didn't! Instead he struck the rock like he did before. Water still came out of the rock, but God punished Moses. He would not let Moses into the promised land because of his disobedience. But why did Moses disobey? Conjecture would lead me to suggest that perhaps Moses was embarrassed to speak to a rock in front of the entire Hebrew nation. But I suppose that is a question left for the hereafter.

This journey has been a difficult one for me to keep up with. I will not be able to reach my goal of completing the Bible cover to cover in 30 days. But now I have a more realistic goal in mind: 90 days. It will allow me to take the time to actually read and understand more clearly. I won't post daily about my experience, but I will keep you abreast of what is going on at Casa de Heise.

DH out.

Project 30 fail. But not the end.

Due to a number of factors, I have decided to put the project 30 on hold for now. I am continuing my reading for personal growth and edification. But as interest in my blog has seemingly weigned these past two weeks I am taking a step back and re-evaluating the priorities of this blog, its focus and premise. Don't be surprised if you return to find a completely revamped website. As always, feedback is infinitely appreciated and valued from all. It is my intention to make this blog a true periodical that will be informative, entertaining and of the highest quality possible. Any guidance as to how to accomplish this will also be appreciated.

I may continue my project 30 as an intermittent reflection on scripture, or I may branch off a separate blog for that. I am not yet sure. My blog about film certainly hasn't gone anywhere so I may retool that into a theological blog and use this one for a different focus. Again, your input will be immensely helpful.

Stay tuned...

DH out.

Project 30: The Bible - Day 3 (Exodus 29 - Leviticus 23)

Given that there is not much narrative in this passage, I will give a brief outline/summary of what I read. Moses is at mount Sinai and is receiving instruction for the Israelite people. Everything from what the priests should wear, to how the holy tent and everything in it is to be designed, even what the Israelites can and cannot eat, are all specifically outlined by God. In this passage, God is forming a new covenant with his chosen people. He consecrates Aaron and his descendants to be his priests who will intercede on behalf of Israel, and make attoneing sacrifices to make Israel right with God. These practices are clearly, explicitly and finitely instructed by YHWH  himself through Moses. And to illustrate how serious this is, when two of Aaron's sons make a mistake and burn the wrong incense, God consumes them with fire! God ain't playin'. This is life or death. The expectation: you are God's people therefore you must be holy as God is holy.

It is always striking to see what the sacrificial system looks like. There are very specific animal sacrifices for specific people and events. If you want to praise God for something you give a peace offering, on the day of atonement you give a sin offering and drive a scapegoat (a goat that escapes with the sins of the community on its head) out of the community. It is interesting to draw the parallel between this form of sacrifice and the sacrifice of Christ, who was both the sin offering and, as he was resurrected and ascended to heaven, was also the scapegoat for all humanity.

It also fascinates me to read about what would make a person "ceremonially unclean" as it says in my translation. (NLT) Things like a woman's time of the month, having sex with your wife, or even a man having a wet dream all made people temporarily ceremonially unclean. They had to take a special bath, wash their clothes and then be pronounced clean by a priest after a specific allotment of time. I suppose this is fascinating to me because the instances I mentioned are considered normal by even the most conservative religious person today. And yet at that time, to be unclean in this way meant that you were outside the community and could not share in all the benefits and privileges thereof. At least that is what I gleaned from my reading today.

There is no question that we live in a different age today than the Israelites of the old covenant of Moses. Even Judaism does not practice the same sacrificial system that was in place in their ancient religion. Now the customs of the day of atonement are very different. And from what I understand, it in large part due to the destruction of Solomon's temple in 70CE.

But I digress. I have much more reading to do before the day is out. I hope you enjoyed this post. Be sure to continue to check back here often for further updates on my reading through the scriptures in 30 days.

DH out.

Project 30: The Bible - Day 2 (Genesis 41:24 - Exodus 28)

Before I begin the post let me apologize for its late date. I did most of the reading for this post on the day it was to be read but was unable to finish due to health issues and other familial/household obligations. Because my Bible is fine print it can be increasingly difficult to read when one is tired and one's eyes are irritated. I just finished the rest of the reading today (about 10 pages of Exodus) and feel confident that I can be caught up to where I must be by tomorrow night, with 100 pages between me and my goal. I have mapped out my reading in a pseudo-syllabus and will do my best to adhere to its standard. I will also try to end at a full chapter ending where possible to give more continuity to the posts. (Chapters listed above will have been read in full.) Your patience and prayers through this journey are appreciated.

Day 2 (summary paragraph)
Hello once again audience! When we left off we were with Joseph in Egypt and he was just about to interpret Pharaoh's nightmares. Pharaoh's dreams meant that there would be 7 years of plenty and 7 years of terrible famine. So bad that people would forget the good old days entirely. Pharaoh made Joseph in charge of everything and Joseph stored up all the food from the 7 years of plenty and distributed it during the 7 years of famine.  The famine spread to Canaan and Jacob sent all his sons (all but Benjamin, Joseph's only full brother) to Egypt to buy food. Joseph gave his brothers (who didn't recognize him) a hard time the two times they came to Egypt, but eventually revealed his identity and sent for his father and all the rest of his family to live in Goshen in Egypt. This is how the people of Israel came to be in Egypt. Eventually the Egyptians would forget about Joseph and would view the Hebrews as a threat. They enslaved them and killed their newborn sons. But Moses' mother put him in a basket and set him in the reeds of the Nile where he was picked up by an Egyptian princess. She showed Moses mercy and raised him. Moses grew up, and killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. Pharaoh tried to kill Moses so he fled to the wilderness where he happened upon the Midian camp. Moses married the high priest Jethro's daughter Zipporah, met God through the burning bush on mount Sinai, and was told to go back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. Moses went (but God stopped him on the way because his son wasn't circumcised yet) but Pharaoh wasn't too keen on the idea. It took plagues of blood (all the water turned to blood) frogs, goats, flies, dead livestock, festering boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and even the death of Egypt's firstborn before Pharaoh finally let them go. And even then he changed his mind. But God took care of his people at the red sea (some say sea of reeds) and all of Pharaoh's men were drowned. God calls his people to Sinai and gives them explicit instructions including the 10 commandments, how to give justice, and how to build the ark of the covenant, tabernacle, and all the ceremonial accessories. And finally instructions for how to dress Aaron and the priests who were to intercede for Israel.

Theme and focus:
Through all of this, the theme again seems to be that God is faithful to keep his promises. They don't always happen at the time we want them to, (in fact it seems like God takes his time in this case, waiting generations before acting to free Israel from bondage.) But God does hear the prayers of his people and is faithful not only to free them, but feed them and preserve them against their enemies.

Reflection:
In the later chapters of Exodus, we see that God does not want his people to be "just like everyone else." He wants them to be set apart from the world in ways that will be blatant, and give God all the glory. Through reading I was convicted by the fact that this expectation of us as God's children has not changed. Even though Christ and his sacrifice has fulfilled the law, we are to live for Him and not for ourselves.

Another thing that I keep feeling convicted about is the Sabbath day. Jesus said we aren't supposed to be legalistic about it, however he said nothing about ignoring it entirely. I think that this will be a good practice to keep in my own walk. I may not be able to have this day on Saturday or Sunday as most do because of my work schedule, but I can take a day off once a week to enjoy God and strengthen my relationship with Him. Like I said, I think it will be a good practice.

DH out

Project 30: The Bible - Day 1 (Genesis 1:1-41:23)

In this first reading, done in one sitting with a 30 minute meal break, I went from reading about creation to Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams. In between these events, Adam and Eve fell from grace. Cain killed Abel. Noah built a pretty big boat. God made promises to Abram and renamed Him and his wife Abraham and Sarah and promised Abraham many descendants who would bless all the nations of the earth. Abraham's wife Sara gave birth do Isaac, who married Rebekah and had Jacob and Esau. Jacob took Esau's birthright and tricked Isaac into blessing him instead of his brother. Jacob fled to his uncle's land and married Leah and Rachel, who, along with their two servant girls bore Jacob 12 sons including Joseph. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery in Egypt to Potiphar, who's wife falsely accused him of attempted rape. Potiphar threw Joseph in prison, until he interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh’s servants, one of whom much later told Pharaoh about Joseph after Pharaoh had some had dreams. (Phew!)

Ok, so that summarizes my reading (I will go back and spell correct names later.) I have several thoughts. First, this did take me a significant amount of time. I will do my best to keep up with it every day but I may need a little leeway as life does become more important sometimes. But enough about my excuses. This exercise is proving to be very enlightening. I had already known these stories since childhood. But when you string them all together you get a sense of clarity about it. If I had to give these passages a central theme, I would say it is that Almighty God, the creator of the universe, is always faithful to keep his promises and complete the work he began in his people. Yes we have seen harsh judgment of those who turn away from God. But also, we have seen great promises made and kept by God to Abraham. This promise will ultimately be fulfilled in Christ who as a descendant of Abraham will bless all the nations of the world.

I always go back and forth about the early chapters of Genesis and the idea of whether the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah are all literal or partially literal and partially allegorical. I believe Genesis to be true, don't get me wrong. But I often wonder if the creation account is actually God communicating through Moses an allegory for the history of the universe? One interpretation could be that the fact that the creation account is progressive, beginning with light and ending with the creation of Man, suggests a parallel to the Big Bang theory in which a particle of extremely dense matter explodes into light beams and energy creating the building blocks of the universe from light. Though this would negate the long-held Christian doctrine which states that God created the universe 'ex nihilo' or out of nothing. Still it is interesting to note those parallels. I would say that at the very least, what we should take away from the creation account is that God made everything, including humans, and we humans messed everything up.

I am looking forward to completing the Pentateuch and moving on to the historical books and greater prophets. This is going to be an exciting journey.

Edit: I apologize for the previous version post being so rife with spelling errors. I used my mobile phone to post it at 3 am. It has since been edited for spelling alone.

New Project 30

I have had an idea. And I think this will be very good for me and my faith. You may be aware that in the blogosphere and other corners of the world wide web there is this "thing" called a project 30. Basically the premise is to set a goal to be achieved within 30 days and share the experience with readers/viewers. For example, the birth of LTA movie club began with Phillip DeFranco setting a project 30 in which he watched and reviewed a film every day for 30 days.

My project 30 is going to be a bit more ambitious. I am going to read the entire Bible cover to cover in 30 days. Every day that I read I will also write a brief post reflecting on the passages that I read. My reflections may include (but not be limited to) passage summary, review, exegesis, personal theological revelation, relevant personal anecdotes, and/or any relevant diatribe I happen to feel like posting. My Bible (Holy Bible Compact Edition New Living Translation) has 960 pages of readable scripture. (discounting 2 title pages for old and new testaments.) 960/30=32 pages per day. This should be achievable if I set aside time for it.

Rules for Project 30 - The Bible:
1. 32 pages of scripture must be read daily prior to posting.
2. Posts must include addresses of passages read and a brief summary of what took place in those passages. In cases such as proverbs and psalms which are not linear or narrative, outlines will suffice.
3. Each post should contain personal reflection.
4. Each post will be no less than 3 paragraphs.

I hope you all enjoy my ambitious endeavor. I intend to start tomorrow.

DH out.

God and Time

Sometimes it seems like our understanding of God is too confined. In a recent theological revelation, my understanding of God and how He interacts with us as his children was taken completely outside of the proverbial box. Simply put, the idea is that God exists both within and outside of time as we understand it.

Now before you say "so what" or "that's not possible" let us examine a few examples of what scripture has to say about God. First and foremost, God created the universe and everything in it. (Genesis 1, John 1) In fact the book of John states that "nothing was created except through him." (John 1:3) It is not a far stretch to say that time exists within the known universe, and that as such could not exist without God. The implication here is that God, who existed before all things, existed without time as we understand it in the known universe. And because God does not change (Malachi 3:6) He still exists outside of time and the known universe to this day.

Okay so God exists outside of time. Does that mean that He is some distant being that only exists outside the known universe? By no means! God's interactions with humanity are clear throughout scripture. In fact, they are too numerous to list all of them in this post. However, I will give a few key instances here. One of the most important examples is God's incarnation in the Man Jesus Christ. God would not be able to exist as Jesus Christ unless He also existed within our physical universe. In one interaction, Jesus said of himself "Before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8:58) This quite intentional grammatical error was indicative of Jesus' deity, and further proof of God's existence outside of time. It hearkens back to what God said to Moses at the burning bush: "I AM that I AM" (Exodus 3:14)

If during his ministry Jesus was also before Abraham (who incidentally lived almost 2000 years before the birth of Christ) what does that imply for us today? Simply stated, at this very moment, even as you are reading this, Christ is being born. At this time Christ is hanging on the cross for your sins. He is intimately aware of who you are (Luke 21:18). And as such he was intimately aware of you as He hung on the cross for YOU. Yes YOU (insert your name) reading this blog right now. Christ is both with you now and on the cross for your sins. He is at this moment both being born and rising from the grave. He is at this moment both creating the universe and proclaiming victory at the final battle! Now if that isn't mind blowing, I don't know what is.