Category: CBS Journal

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Gilgamesh and Enoch

I had to write a paper this week on the "Sons of God" written about in Genesis 6. It was a pretty interesting topic, but I found it pretty difficult to find enough material on the subject. Well, that’s not true, there was lots of info on the internet, but who knows how much credibility any of that stuff has? Anyway, as I researched, I discovered that many scholars held a totally different view than I had once thought. I personally believe these "sons of God" were angels, but I was surprised at how many people really believed they were humans from the line of Seth. I guess I gained an appreciation for both viewpoints as I learned each one and the evidence for them. I still believe they were angels, and feel like I could back it up now, but it was interesting to learn about. In the process I found myself reading all kinds of other things including portions the "Epic of Gilgamesh." I’m gonna have to go back and read the whole thing someday – it’s interesting to me that this story was written long before the Book of Genesis and yet, there are so many similarities. I know some would say that Moses ripped off the Epic of Gilgamesh, but what if they are both stories of the same world flood event, just written from two different viewpoints. Of course we know that what Moses wrote down was inspired by God, but it had also been passed down from generation to generation before that. Moses didn’t invent the story. I wonder if the Epic of Gilgamesh is just the way someone else got it passed down to them? Anyway, it’s all pretty interesting.

I also ended up reading a bit of the Book of Enoch in studying about these "sons of God." That’s seems pretty interesting too. It’s obviously not a book which made the cannon, but I wonder why not? I wonder how much of it can be trusted? Which parts? It’s all very interesting to me, but I’ll bet it’ll be a couple of years before I’ll have time to research some of these thigns on my own. Right now, just keeping up with the reading for my classes is taking all the time I have. I feel like there are all kinds of things I’m learning about which are making me think in different ways, and therefore causing me to ask more questions. That’s a really good thing, but it’s hard to just let these things go without studying them more in depth, and I just don’t have time to do it right now.

Maybe when I finish school, I’ll be able to read a book for fun again. Maybe I’ll be able to look at these things more in depth. Of course, the other side is that maybe I’ll be sick of it all and not wanna study at all again for a while.

Lord, I don’t wanna be that way. Help me to always remain a learner and to always have the desire to grow and deepen our relationship and my understanding of Your Word. Help me also to live out the things I’m learning in my life. AMEN.

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Miranda’s Teaching Debut

My beautiful bride, Miranda, was asked quite a while ago to teach a group of about 60 women on a retreat this past weekend. The only direction they gave her was "Faith." Anyway, she had some very specific ideas of what she wanted to share with them but hadn’t quite figured out how to tie it all together. Anyway, the bible study she normally goes to got cancelled last week, so she sat in with me and the youth as I taught them what I had learned about circumcision in class last week.

You can click here to read bout it: http://uturn.typepad.com/steve/2007/01/awesome_school_.html

When she and I got home, we had a great discussion about it all and she decided to use the material from Joshua 5 that we had taught the youth to tie her talk together. We prayed over it all and I prayed for her during the weekend, and upon her return she had great news! Not only had her talk gone really well, but the one part she was concerned about (All the background material leading to Joshua 5 with Moses in the desert.) was taken care of too. God had given those verses to another woman who was leading the session before her!! Isn’t He good??? I probably looked like the two of them had gotten together to plan their talks, but that was completely the work of the Holy Spirit. Thank You God!!

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My 10 Commandments

10commandments In class last night Dr. Loken asked us each to spend about 10 minutes and write our own 10 commandments around each of these 10 topics listed. It’s a good exercise; I’d encourage you to do it too. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Priorities – I will keep my personal relationship with God above my job.

2. Worship – I will worship outside the church.

3. Reverence – I will pay attention to the little things God has done. (Is there such a thing as a “little” thing?)

4. Time – I will faithfully continue my devotional time with Miranda.

5. Authority – I will respect the people God has placed above me, even if I disagree with them.

6. Life – When I have them someday, I will raise my children to know true life – that which only God can give.

7. Purity – When my thought life is tempted, I will seek the “way out” described by 1 Cor 10:13. “But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

8. Property – I will sacrifice my own stuff/desires so others can have more.

9. Tongue – I will speak what is right, true, noble, pure, uplifting/encouraging, and honoring to God.

10. Contentment – I will enjoy all that I have in spite of what the world tells me I need.

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Awesome School Stuff

Wow! I really love going to class on Tuesday nights. Right now I’m in "Special Issues in the Old Testament – Historical Literature." Anyway, last night, Dr. Loken gave us an overview of Genesis. There are lots of things he covered which I knew, but quite a bit that I learned too. Check out some of the stuff that was new to me:

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6_day_war_lands_1 Here’s the first:

There was a 6 day war between Israel and the Arab states of Jordan, Egypt, and Syria in 1967. Israel was attacked on three different fronts simultaneously. Israel had a secret operative who had worked his way into the ranks of the Syrian army and on their battle front, it was very hot and there were lots of mosquitoes. The secret operative explained that if they would plant eucalyptus trees they’d have shade and the mosquitoes would stay away. The Syrian army purchased these trees and planted them near their bases. The secret agent contacted the Israeli bombers who then proceeded to bomb the trees. They didn’t need coordinates, ’cause they could so clearly see these trees which were so out of place in the desert. Pretty funny!!!! Syria loses the battle ’cause they couldn’t stand the mosquitoes or the heat.

By the way, Israel not only won the war on every front, but they also gained quite a bit of land from each of their attackers. On the map, the light tan is what they occupied at first and the green area are what they gained afterwards.

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Here’s another:

In Genesis 17:9-14, God institutes the sign of the covenant – circumcision. Since the covenant was about Abraham’s seed/offspring it was very fitting that every time a male went to procreate, he would see himself and be reminded of the promise regarding his seed/offspring. It is also very interesting to note that there were many other cultures which circumcised men, but it was not common in Ur where Abraham was from and it was completely unique that Israel circumcised babies. Another miraculous thing is that the Lord instructs them to circumcise babies on the 8th day after birth. Doctors today have discovered that Vitamin K (which helps in clotting) spikes in men on the 8th day of life and then never reaches that level again. Without modern Vitamin K injections, doctors recommend the 8th day for circumcision even now because it’s the safest day in a man’s life for such a thing. Interesting that God instructed the people for their own safety even when their knowledge of medicine was lacking. Clearly this was not revealed to them by other men, but only by God.

Another sidenote to the circumcision thing: Joshua 5 records that after they had crossed the Jordan river and before they attacked Jericho, Israel rededicated themselves to the Lord and each man was circumcised. This would have debilitated them and left them virtually helpless in case of attack. They were incredibly vulnerable sitting debilitated between the Jordan river and Jericho. This was an incredible act of faith on the Israelites part. It is because of this act of faith that God takes away the disgrace of their Egyptian captivity, and they become a nation which others fear. 

Here’s the last thing I’m gonna write about today:

First read the Scriptures about Jacob and Esau’s birth:

Genesis 25:21 – Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.

23 The LORD said to her,
       "Two nations are in your womb,
       and two peoples from within you will be separated;
       one people will be stronger than the other,
       and the older will serve the younger."

24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. [e] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.

OK – now here’s what I learned. Dr. Loken said that he had a student who was also a pre-med student one time who explained this phenomenon called (I forget but I’ll guess) "Twin twin transfusion" where the stronger twin dominates the mothers blood supply and when he is born he is stronger and usually red colored. The weaker is pale. Kind of the "runt" of the litter so to speak. By the way, the word/name "Jacob" was a wrestling term used when someone grabbed another’s heel and tripped him up throwing him to the ground.

Anyway, this explains why Rebekah, the mother, loved Jacob more. It’s kind of a mother’s role to care and nurture the weaker of the two. It also explains why Isaac like Easu – he was a man’s man – the kind of guy you’d want as an heir. Also – after what God said in verse 23, when you look at chapter 27:27-29 (knowing that Isaac thought he was talking to Esau), you realize that Isaac was trying to reverse the curse – going against what God had said. Check it out:

26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."

27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
       "Ah, the smell of my son
       is like the smell of a field
       that the LORD has blessed.

28 May God give you of heaven’s dew
       and of earth’s richness—
       an abundance of grain and new wine.

29 May nations serve you
       and peoples bow down to you.
       Be lord over your brothers,
       and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
       May those who curse you be cursed
       and those who bless you be blessed."

This was just something I had never thought about – cool stuff.

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Abraham

Last night was a crazy night. We were getting all kinds of warnings about the weather and the news people were saying not to get out in it all. It was supposed to freeze, and schools were shutting down. But I had class. I really have enjoyed the classes I’ve been taking and so even with all the warnings and an hour and a half drive, I decided to go anyway. I called ahead to make sure we were going to have class before I left, and they said they were so I headed out.

As I drove, I listened to a couple of sermons by Rob Bell. (That has kinda become my habit on the way to school. I get Rob’s latest teaching every week that way.) The roads weren’t too bad. Certainly not as bad as I had expected after all the hype the news people were making – I didn’t see any ice at all. When I got to school, I heard that we were having class, but that Dr Loken wasn’t there and we’d be watching a movie. I was dramatically disappointed. (Wow that’s a nice alliteration – “dramatically disappointed” – Can you say A.D.D.? Sorry.)

Abraham We sat for two and a half hours and watched “Abraham” with Richard Harris. Every time he spoke I couldn’t help but hear Caesar from the movie “Gladiator.” It was a pretty good movie. There were lots of parts that they had to write in and guess about how things might have been, but it still followed the Biblical text for the most part. The scene at the end of the movie where Abraham is tested and is asked to sacrifice his son Issac was interesting – Issac is portrayed as understanding what Abraham is going to do and even tells him to tie him up tighter. I never imagined it quite like that. I always figured that Abraham had to wrestle his son to the ground to tie him up. Maybe the sense of honoring your parents that they instilled in their children was greater than what we see today – wait, I’m sure it was – but I’m just not sure about how much more ti was. Could Isaac have offered himself to his dad and ultimately to the Lord like that?

I did take special note of what Abraham said to his servants as I watched last night. They accurately portrayed him as saying that he and the boy would go up the mountain to worship and then they’d both return, but Abraham spoke these things with a fearful and trembling tone – it almost seemed as if He didn’t believe they’d both return. I’m sure it would be normal to be fearful about the whole situation, but this is the moment of faith that He is commended for in Hebrews, and He believed in God’s promise (that He’d make a great nation of him) so much that He thought Isaac would be raised from the dead.

Half It’s interesting to me that both faith and doubt were so clearly co-existing in this situation, but Abraham chose to act on the faith. In this moment, even though the Jewish faith doesn’t yet exist, Abraham is half Jewish (faithful) and half Gentile (doubtful) on the outside, but is still completely Jewish on the inside – in His heart, He remains faithful.

The truth is that, for me, faith and doubt co-exist more often than not. Even in my best, most faithful moments, when I put on my game face and act on faith, my insides are twisting and turning, trembling and fearful. It’s in those moments when I put fear aside and trust in God – it’s in those moments when my faith is stretched, and doubt is defeated. If I imagine myself like Abraham – everything in my life culminating to one moment of choosing faith or doubt. What would I do? Can I put fear aside? Would I act on faith? It’s one thing to act in faith in a normal everyday sort of situation, but what about when my whole life’s journey is at stake? Would I stake my life on Christ? Would I stake my son’s life on Christ?

Prayer: Lord, I don’t know much. I know that You are all that I need. I know that You have provided for me over and over in my life. I know that You love me. I know that without You, I would never have any faith at all. I know that doubt consumes me when I’m on my own. I know that there’s a battle within me between doubt and faith. I’m grateful for the battle, because I know that means You’re in me. I also know that sometimes I let the doubt to win out in my life. Sometimes I even encourage it. Lord, change that part of me. I mean, I know You’re gonna win – there’s no battle that isn’t Yours for the taking. Lord, win in me. I trust that in the momnts where I must choose, You will show me Your way of faith. Lord, nudge me – No, push me – push me hard – throw me to the ground if You must – but make me go Your way – Let me walk in faith no matter what the cost. In those testing moments, I want to honor You. In every moment, I want to honor You. I want to honor You.

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The Nativity Story

Nativitystory2 We went to see the movie the other day and I thought it was great! I don’t think the High School guys who went with us enjoyed it too much, but it followed the Biblical account pretty well. Mary and Joseph were portrayed as a couple who didn’t know each other very well, and he was definitely older than she by quite a bit. This is very likely considering the customs of the Jewish people in those days. Her visit with Elizabeth and the shame that went along with her pregnancy was  also shown well. The town of Nazareth was also shown pretty accurately. The houses were made of stone which would have been true for them and Joseph is shown in one scene cutting rocks. We have typically thought of him as a carpenter but the actual greek word “tekton” means “a worker who builds.” In those days since building were made of stones – that more than likely would have referred to a stone mason. The scene where Joseph asks for Mary’s hand in marriage was good too – he spoke of going back home to prepare a place for her as would have been their custom. I just discovered one thing wrong in the movie last night in my hermeneutics class. Mary and Joseph probably would not have been traveling to Bethlehem alone ’cause Nazareth was a “branch” city of David. This meant that there were probably lots of folks from Nazareth who had to go to Bethlehem for the census – not to mention Joseph’s family – parents, brothers, sisters, etc.

Nativitystory_1 I really enjoyed the shepherds and the kings too. The shepherds fields really looked like the fields that I was able to see in Israel – not fields like we think of here in the US – but much more rocky. I also was intersted in how the shepherds were shown as old men. I had always thought of them as young boys, because it was the lowliest of jobs and because of the way I imagined David growing out of it. Anyway, those young boys certainly grew up – I had just never really thought of it quite like that. As far as the kings go, more than likely they weren’t there that night, but the whole idea of the three stars/planets aligning together during that time is accurate according to astronomers today. The scriptural account (Matthew 2:11) says that the wise men came to a house so it probably was later. It could have been as much as 2 years later ’cause Herod wanted the children 2 yrs and under killed. The way the kings described their gifts – Gold for a king, Frankincense for a priest, and Myrhh for sacrifice was pretty cool too.

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The Bible as Literature

Dr Loken taught us last night about how to read the Bible as literature. It also seems to me that this is one of his favorite subjects. His dissertation involved these very same concepts as they applied to the Book of Nehemiah. His focus tonight was on the narrative form which makes up most of the Bible.

The basic idea seems to be about analyzing the 5 elements of narrative literature (setting, characters, plot,  point of view, style) in order to gain more understanding of the author’s intended meaning. The five rules that he laid out for us are:

1. Investigate every detail of setting that the author includes.
2. Analyze each character and determine how he contributes to the message of the story.
3. Be aware of how scenes work together to form the plot.
4. Determine what the narrator is trying to communicate to the reader.
5. Explore whether or not the structure of the story offers any clues to the author’s intended meaning.

He also gave us a few examples of how these types of questions can lead to a better interpretation and understanding of the Scriptures. Here are a few that I wrote down:

1. Setting – By investigating the setting of the Nativity story, you discover that Nazareth was a “branch” city of Bethlehem. The name “Nazareth” actually means “branch” and it was named this because there had been many people of the line of David who left Bethlehem and settled there. This also means that when Joseph left for Bethlehem with Mary, he probably had many relatives including his parents, his brothers, sisters, and lots of other folks who traveled with them to Bethlehem. In reading the Biblical text, we only see Mary and Joseph mentioned, but the original readers would have already known and understood that Nazareth was full of people in the line of David who would have been traveling with them. Also, in studying the setting, we see that Bethlehem is at most a 3-day trip from Nazareth. Sometimes we have thought of it as a longer more difficult journey – not to make light of Mary being on a donkey for 3 days.

2. Setting – The Philistines were  a constant threat to Israel because they lived in the plains near the Mediterranean Sea and knew how to smelt iron. They had iron chariots which Israel could never defeat down in the plains where they lived, but the Philistines could never really take Israel either cause those same iron chariots didn’t do so well in the foothills of the mountains where the Israelites lived. Once Israel learned how to smelt iron (under Saul) they wipe out the Philistines and you never really hear about them again in the Scriptures.

3. Character and Setting – Why was Abraham so quick to be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac? This has to do with setting – he had cone from the land of Ur where it was very common practice to sacrifice children to their god. We look at those verses and are shocked at Abraham’s willingness, but in that culture, it was normal. In some strange way, it didn’t take much faith for him to be willing to sacrifice his son ’cause everyone was doing that. If you’ll notice in Hebrews, (This is the character part) Abraham isn’t commended for having faith enough to sacrifice his son, he is commended for the faith he exercised in believing God’s original promise to make of him a great nation through his son Isaac. In the Genesis account Abraham fully believes God’s promise believes that if God made that promise and wanted him to kill his son, then He must be planning on raising him from the dead too. This was an original thought. No one had ever risen from the dead! Abraham is commended for faith that God would raise his son from the dead in order to fulfill the promise that He had made to him! Cool stuff!

4. Structure/Style – Look at 1 Samuel 24-26. (24 and 26 are almost identical – so what’s in the middle of them must be important – 25 is a little strange until you figure out the symbolism in it.)

Anyway, it was a good class last night.

Lord, thank you for these classes. Thank you for you Word. Thank you for this supernatural hunger that you’ve given me for it all lately. Thank you for the ability to attend – for providing the money and the time for me to come. You are amazing and I can only stand in awe of You! You’ve certainly given me more than I deserve – I deserve nothing but death, but this life you’ve given me is incredible! Thank you for my beautiful bride and her support, and for our families, our friends, and our church. I am overwhelmed by all You’ve done, but even more so by who You are. All that You have done flows out of who You are – it’s just an expression of Your character. You are more than I can imagine and I love You! AMEN.

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Hermeneutics

Our class last week was a bit dissappointing. I’ve really enjoyed the thigns Dr. Loken has been teaching, but he didn’t teach much that week. We spent most of out time doing what he called "show and tell" where he described different Biblical reference materials to us and then passed them around. I know it’s probably a good thing for me to learn about each of those things, but it was just a bit boring. Maybe if he had pulled out a few more examples from those resources and showed us how they really help in understanding the Scriptures. I’m sure that he did some of that, but none of it really hit me like I’ve gotten used to in his classes. Anyway, it’s still going OK. I’m still learning alot and the amount of homework is crazy. I don’t wanna be working a whole lot during the holidays, but it looks like that’s gonna be the case.
Lord, help me.

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Peter’s more Sure Word

Here’s some thoughts I had after watching a video in class with a guy named Ravi Zacharias.

2 Peter 1:19, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts."

Peter talks about the Bible as the "more sure word." This is interesting to me ’cause Peter is the same guy who hung out with Jesus for three years. He knew Him personally. He even saw Jesus transfigured (Matthew 17) and looked upon Elijah and Moses on that mountain. Peter did some stupid things, but I think ultimately, he was a pretty smart guy. You see, he knew that the experiences he had would eventually fade or maybe even his memory of them would make them more than they were. Therefore, he knew that even with his amazing experiences, he could trust the Scriptures more. They were the "more sure word."

What about me? How many times do I trust my own experiences thinking, "the last time this happened, I got out of it by. . . ." Instead, what would life be like if I actually trusted in what God said? What if I trusted the Scriptures? What mountains would I move? What water would I walk on? Who would I bring healing to? What dark situations would I be able to find peace in? You see, my experiences aren’t always right. If their choices had been based on my experiences, Moses would have never parted the Red Sea, Jonah would have drowned, the blind man would still be blind, and Lazarus would have stayed in the tomb. The good news is that we have a "more sure word" in the Scriptures. And they say that we’ll do even greater things than Jesus (John 14:12).

I’d encourage you to read the "more sure word" today and see what God is trying to tell you to do.

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Observation

Along with Interpretation, and Application, Observation is the first of the three elements of hermeneutics (science and art of Biblical interpretation). Anyway, the other night in our class we had an "observation" test. They gave us one hour to find all the books of the bible hidden in a two page story. Here’s the file if you’d like to try it yourself.    Bible_brain_teaser_3.doc  (I put the answers on there too so don’t cheat and go find the answers before the hour is up. Anyway, after about 40 minutes I was sick of looking at those pages and just quit. Out of the 57 you could find (they don’t count 1 & 2s) I had found 50 of them. When the hour was up, there was only one guy in class who had found more than I had. He got 54. The good news is that the top three people in the class don’t have to do one of the projects required for an "A" in the class and will still get an "A." I get out of some of the homework and will still get an "A." Wish I could do this a few more times and not have to do any homework for my grade. Let me know if you do better than I did in an hour (without cheating). Some of the easiest ones to find are the ones I missed.