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Many psalms are laments in which a psalmist complains about various kinds of crises. Thought the laments are often bitter, typically toward the end of the psalm God either intervenes to deal with the causse of the complaint or God’s intervention is anticipated. That is not the case in Psalm 88. In this lament, there is not amelioration or anticipation of amelioration. The psalmist prays persistently, but there is no resolution. At the same time, the psalmist refuses to give up. Regardless of how bad things are—he seems close to death—he continues to cry out to God. Ironically, laments only make sense if one believes in God. If there is no God, there is no expectation of how things should be. They just are! Laments underscore how profoundly the lamenter holds on to God. And, the lamenter continues to pray regardless of the answer.
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Based on 1 Kings 3. This story begins with a mixed introduction of Solomon. On the one hand, he is depicted as righteous as King David, his father. On the other hand, we are told that he married Pharoah’s daughter and engaged in pagan practices. Still, in a dream God asked him what he would like. Realizing the arduous task of being king over Israel, he asked for a wise and discerning mind. God granted this, and wealth to boot. Solomon’s wisdom was soon tested when two prostitutes claimed ownership of the same baby. Solomon used his wisdom to figure out who the real mother was. This decision made his wisdom legendary.
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The story is based on 2 Samuel 20. In this somewhat obscure story a man named Sheba foments revolt against David. This was right after Absalom, David’s son, had rebelled against his father. Though Absalom was unable to stay in power, he had greatly weakened his father. Because of that, Sheba tried his hand at removing David from the throne. But this time, David did not have to leave Jerusalem. Eventually, Joab, a military officer, chased Sheba and found him holed up in Abel. While threatening the city, a wise woman in the city negotiated with Joab. Eventually, she agreed to deliver Sheba in exchange for Joab’s withdrawing his troops. The woman persuaded the people in the city to sacrifice Sheba, which they did by decapitating him and throwing the head to the invading troops!
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Based on 2 Samuel 12. In this story, in the aftermath of David’s affair with Bath-Sheba and his having her husband murdered Nathan the prophet confronts David. But he does so indirectly. Nathan tells David about two men, one rich and one poor. In this story, the rich man callously exploits the poor man. David is outraged at the rich man and insists that the man pay fourfold for what he has done. Nathan lets David know that he is the man in the story. David, too, will pay fourfold. Though David’s sins are forgiven, the consequences remain. Eventually, David loses three sons and has to deal with his daughter’s Being raped. Even forgiven sins often have consequences.
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This story is based on Numbers 20. This is a famous incident in which God wants Moses to “speak” to a rock so that Israel will be supplied with water. Instead, Moses strikes the rock. Both Moses and Aaron (his brother) were involved. And, both incurred God’s anger and punishment. The punishment was that neither would be allowed to enter Canaan, the Promised Land. As it turns out, though, it seems there was another reason that Moses got into trouble. This time, at least, Israel did nothing wrong. But Moses did. He accused Israel of being rebellious when he was the one being rebellious.
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It is based on Exodus 19. This story recounts Israel’s first experience as soon as it got into the wilderness after being rescued from Egypt. Moses makes several trips up and down the mountain to communicate with God. God wants the people to prepare for a theophany, in which God will come in a thick cloud, accompanied by smoke, fire, thunder, and other phenomena. Moses is instructed to prepare the people for this by consecrating them. There are requirements to be observed, since getting close to a holy God can be dangerous. Eventually, God comes to the mountain and speaks to the people directly. This is one of the few times that God does not speak through a mediator. What he says is the ten words, or ten commandments. This theophany emphasizes the significance of those commandments.
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This podcast deals with Esau, one of the most disliked characters in the Bible. Famously, Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup and later was cheated out of his father’s blessing. This outraged him, and further led him to plot his brother’s murder. Esau had twenty years to wallow in his rage. Yet, when the time came to meet his brother after two decades he was the model of acceptance, forgiveness, and grace. There is almost nothing in the story that gives us so much as a hint as to what transformed Esau. All we have is a detail that when he realized that his parents were upset with his wives, who were outside of the family, he married Abraham’s granddaughter. There is some ambiguity as to whether this was a move to endear himself to the family or aggravate the situation. I suggest the former. Regardless of the reasons for his transformation, though, the scene in which he reconciled with Jacob is perhaps the greatest example of reconciliation in the whole Bible.
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The story is found in 1 Samuel 12. In this incident, the prophet addresses “all Israel.” Mostly, he calls them to repentance and urges them to live righteous lives. But the prophet also lies in his address! He criticizes the people for responding to a threat coming from the Ammonite king, Nahash. According to Samuel, when this king threatened Israel, they asked for the prophet to anoint a king. But that was not true. It was when the people saw that Samuel was old and that his sons were corrupt, that they asked for a king. In this speech, Samuel does not even mention his sons’ corruption. Even a great prophet like Samuel has to be discerned when he speaks, since he does not always speak truthfully.
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In this Podcast, I explain how the first, foundational part of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, called in Hebrew Torah, was five books instead of four or six. Some have argued that this foundational part of the Bible should be a Hexateuch—that is, the first six books—because the promise of land is so prominent in Genesis and Joshua (the 6th book) describes Israel’s getting the land. Others have argued that the Torah is a Tetrateuch, or the first 4 books, because the vocabulary and outlook of Deuteronomy is replete in Joshua through 2 Kings, but is not found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Despite these hypotheses, the canonizing community made sure that the Torah was five books. In effect, they took the first book of the Deuteronomistic History (Deuteronomy) and made it the last book of Torah. Why did they do that? Because the Torah ended when Israel did not have the land, the monarchy, or the temple, the very situation they experienced in the Exile. It was in that period that decisions had to be made about how to “shape” Scripture.
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Psalm 91 is the polar opposite of Psalm 90. This is because, if taken literally Psalm 91 would eliminate any need to complain or lament the way Psalm 90 does. In Psalm 91, the Lord’s protection makes those who love God immune from injury or death in war, from disease, from being harmed by wild animals, or even from being subject to the effects of gravity! Clearly, the people who wrote and canonized a psalm like this were not naïve. They experienced reverses in warfare, were subject to the ravages of disease, did not blithely pretend that there was no such thing as gravity, and did not pretend that wild animals could be dangerous. This is why the Psalm has to be carefully appropriated. The Devil made no headway when he quoted this psalm when tempting Jesus. Psalm 91 is not about whistling by the graveyard; instead, it is about hope.
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I suggest that these psalms need to be read in tandem, much like Psalms 22 and 23 should be read in tandem. Psalm 90 purports to be a prayer of Moses. This is quite appropriate in that it accents Moses’ role as Israel’s mediator. Plus, Psalm 90 is the beginning of the 4th section of the Psalter. Curiously, Psalm 89 is a complaint against God for the Deity’s perceived breaking of the Davidic covenant. In Psalm 90, God asks Israel to “turn back,” or repent, and later Israel returns the favor by asking God to “turn back.” Though the prayer asks God to take pity on Israel, the gist is that God’s punishment has been sufficient and a change of divine demeanor is requested.
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These three stories occur in the Synoptic Gospels; John does not have a temptation story. The temptation stories in Matthew and Luke are quite similar; Mark is as cryptic as the other two are detailed. This temptation in the wilderness mirrors Israel’s being tempted in the wilderness after escaping Egypt and being on the way to the Promised Land. In fact, Jesus’ quotes from Deuteronomy in rebuttal of the Devil come from contexts about Israel’s experience in the wilderness. In sum, Jesus is tempted to extol power, wealth, and status. But he rejects this to carry out his God-sent mission.
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In this story, Elijah the prophet tells King Ahab that a divinely-sanctioned drought is on the way. Of course, this means the prophet needs to get out of town immediately. The Lord tells him to go to a brook, where he can procure water. Ravens would supply him with food! Eventually, the brook dries up. So, God instructs the prophet to head for Zarephath, a town in Sidon, which is not Israelite territory. God tells the prophet that a widow will take care of him. When Elijah finds the woman, she is in the process of preparing a final meal for her and her son. Elijah nevertheless asks not only for water, but a little food. The woman protests, but still provides Elijah with food. As a consequence, her flour and cooking oil do not run out for the duration of the drought. Before long, though, disaster happens. The woman’s son falls ill and dies. This makes the woman lash out at Elijah, who, she believes, has played a cruel trick on her. However, Elijah is able to revive the child, causing the woman to recognize Elijah as a true prophet of the Lord. The point of the story is that a woman from Sidon was more responsive to Elijah and his God than an Israelite king.
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In this episode, Abraham and Sarah have to go to Egypt because Canaan has been afflicted by a famine. When they get there, Abraham urges Sarah to tell everyone that she is his sister rather than his wife. He was worried that the Egyptians would kill him to get to her. Sure enough, Sarah was whisked off to Pharaoh’s house. At that point, the Lord afflicted Egypt with plagues. An irate Pharaoh demands that Abraham take his wife and leave immediately. In the meantime, Abraham is greatly enriched because of all the presents that the Egyptians had given him.
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In this podcast, I treat the treatment of Melchizedek according to the Epistle to the Hebrews. In that letter, he has an outsized role. He is not just any high priest. He is a high priest that is not related to any other Israelite priest. Because he has no genealogy, he is taken to be an eternal priest. Christ is the high priest who embodies Melchizedek’s role.
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This is an odd story in the Abraham cycle. It involves a huge coalition of rival kings who go to war against each other. In the process, Lot, Abraham’s nephew, gets captured, along with the rest of his family and considerable property. Abraham feels compelled to rescue his nephew. This he does. On his way home, though, he is met by the king of Sodom and the king of Salem, who is named Melchizedek. Melchizedek blesses Abraham using the name of his Canaanite deity. Abraham combines the name of this deity with the name of the Israelite God (YHWH). The only other place where Melchizedek appears in the Old Testament is Psalm 110.
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In this final episode, Jesus continues his debate with Jews who were considering was Jesus was saying. The more outrageous (from a Jewish perspective) Jesus was in the claims he made about himself, the more heated the debate became. Jesus demonized the Jews. The Jews returned the favor. The episode concluded when the Jews thought Jesus had been heretical and blasphemous, and therefore picked up stones to throw at him. Somehow, Jesus hid and got out of the temple unscathed.
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This material is based on John 7-9. In this episode, right after Jesus deals with the woman caught in the act of adultery he begins teaching in the temple. A handful of Jews start believing in Jesus. But that did not mean that they understood him. They are confused about Jesus says about who sent him, where he soon will be going, why no one will be able to find him, etc. Typical of this Gospel, much of what Jesus says is cryptic.
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In this episode, Jesus has been teaching in the temple, impressing those listening. Many of them think either that Jesus is “the prophet” or even the Messiah/Christ. This hubbub leads the Pharisees to send officers to arrest Jesus. But no one bothers him. When the officers explain why they did not arrest Jesus, Nicodemus enters the fray. He wants to know why Jesus is not being given a fair hearing. But Nicodemus is simply criticized by being asked whether he came from Galilee. The story is then interrupted by a story seemingly out of context: the incident with the woman caught in the act of adultery.
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This story is narrated in John 7. In this episode, Jesus’ own biological brothers urge him to attend the Feast of Tabernacles which will be held in Jerusalem. At the time, Jesus was in the Galilee area in the north. He had been facing hostility in the south. Jesus tells his brothers, “No.” Later, Jesus goes to the Feast. At first, he does not nothing openly. Later, he shows up in the temple and teaches. This prompts the people to express their opinions of Jesus, which ranged from those who thought he was a good man and those who thought he was leading the people astray. Though the people in the temple were surprised that Jesus seemed so educated, he argued that had nothing to do with formal education. Instead, he seemed literate, so to speak, because of the One who had sent him.
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