Month: April 2021

Week 15 2 Kings

After his stunning & miraculous healing from leprosy Naaman offered Elisha a big cash reward but then got his second surprise of the day when Elisha told him: as surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.
Standing there listening Gehazi was surprised too and figured Elisha was crazy to refuse the money: my master should not have let this Aramean get away without accepting his gifts. As surely as the Lord lives, I will chase after him and get something from him. So Gehazi chased down Naaman and got the reward.
Even though Gehazi lied to Elisha his master knew what was going on. Elisha asked him: is this the time to receive money and clothing and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and servants?
It’s an interesting question: is this the time to receive money?
If Gehazi was a modern-day Albertan he would say yes (anytime is a good time).
But the answer to Elisha’s question was no. Now isn’t the time to receive money.
So I’m left wondering what all determines the timing of monetary acquisition.
I heard about a business major who inexplicably left Alberta to help in a small church in a country in southeast Asia. And I figure it’s a pretty safe bet to say that at some point this guy asked himself Elisha’s question: is this the right time for me to be making money?

Note: quotes from 2 Kings 5:16, 20, 26 (NLT).

Week 15 2 Kings

I got to the story of Naaman today so I was looking forward to the chapter.
But before I’m past the intro I’m already onto a mental sidetrack. It said: the king of Aram had high admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories.
That last phrase doesn’t sound quite right and I guess the reason is because Israel is supposed to be the star of the bible’s story. For the last three-hundred chapters or so I’ve been focused on Israel. Which is okay. But I have to remember not to catch Israelite Tunnel-Vision.
And for that Naaman is a good reminder. Naaman was an Aramean. Arameans were national enemies of Israel. Aramean marauders captured Israelites. Naaman had his own Israelite slave girl. Arameans were bad guys. And then I also read: through (Naaman) the Lord had given Aram great victories. Naaman – an outsider & enemy – got military assistance from the Lord.
So – even if I am – the Lord isn’t suffering from national-tunnel-vision. He’s operating on an international scale. He might key in on Israel…but he’s Master of the whole world.
I look at a map of the bible world: Egypt Libya Ethiopia Syria the Hittites the Hurrians Assyria Babylon Medo-Persia; later there’s Greece Rome; off the map there’s Japan India China Peru & eventually even Alberta.
The Lord’s seriously engaged in all of them.

Note: quote from 1 Kings 5:1 (NLT)

Week 14 Psalm 90

I’m reading along through Moses’ psalm in the normal bible-reader’s way and I realize – since I’m a human being – that it isn’t doing much to jack up my ego.
Moses – talking about what the Lord does – says: you turn people back to dust…You sweep people away like dreams that disappear or like grass that springs up in the morning…but by evening it is dry and withered.
Moses – talking about the short time that I have here on earth – says: even the best of these years are filled with pain and trouble.
So I get the not-too-elevating notice that I’m roughly comparable to dust. To a dream. To prairie grass growing along the coulee. Plus my time is running out.
It leaves me feeling light-weight…like there’s a fluffy airy feathery foamy buoyant vapouriousness to me. I just have dust-mote consequentiality as I phantom my way through life.
I slow down in that middle section of the psalm. I don’t feel too great about what it says but realize that everything that can be said about something can’t be said in a couple of verses. There’s other things to be added…but not right here. So that’s a bit of a relief because it means even if my life is only dream-light that’s not the whole picture.
There’s more to me than psalm 90. Which isn’t saying 90 isn’t accurate.
It’s totally accurate in what it says without saying everything there is to say.

Note: quotes from Psalm 90:3-6 & 10 (NLT)

Week 14 1 Kings

Micaiah was called to the royal court to make a prediction about an upcoming battle. King Ahab didn’t like his bad-news report. So Micaiah explained where he got his message: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the armies of heaven around him, on his right and on his left.
That’s a pretty unusual circumstance. The more common thing is for a Divine Visitor to reach down to a person on earth – maybe orally; maybe in a dream. But Micaiah was transported in some way to some other dimension where he stepped into a different-than-worldly reality. The Lord was there. His throne was there. Other spirit beings – both good and bad – were there. They were conferring – discussing Ahab’s battle.
Yesterday I landed on psalm 88. It asked: who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord? What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord? The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God. He is far more awesome than those who surround his throne.
It seemed like a weird bible-reader’s coincidence to see two places that talk about the Lord’s throne and about his premiership and about angelic powers grouped around him.
I’d estimate that about 95% of the time I’m reading-through I’m mentally located in my real-material-sensory world.
So Micaiah’s story shines a small light into the shadows of a much bigger room. And reminds me about something I don’t normally think about.

Note: quotes from 1 Kings 22:19; Psalm 88:6-7 (NLT)

Week 14 1 Kings

There’s a one-verse story in Kings: it was during (Ahab’s) reign that Heil, a man from Bethel, rebuilt Jericho. When he laid the foundations, his oldest son, Abiram, died. And when he finally completed it by setting up the gates, his youngest son, Segub, died. All this happened according to the message from the Lord concerning Jericho spoken by Joshua son of Nun.
I checked the cross-reference and reread the message from the Lord that I saw last month where Joshua said: may the curse of the Lord fall on anyone who tries to rebuild the city of Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn son, he will lay its foundation. At the cost of his youngest son, he will set up its gates.
If I’m reading eighty or a hundred verses a day I can’t spend much time on any single one of them. But I do stop and wonder for a bit about Heil. His story is almost nothing but blanks. What’s the author’s point? Why add this one-verse anecdote?
I figure his single point is that a fairly specific forecast that was made maybe four-hundred years before had just came true.
When a specific forecast comes true it gives a reader a reminder that the writer is aware that there’s some intentional shaping of events going on…
…that from ground-level maybe just seems like one of those random things…
…but that isn’t.

Note: quotes from 1 Kings 16:34, Joshua 6:26 (NLT)

Week 14 1 Kings

I ran into a dating problem.
Kings says: Elah…began to rule over Israel…in the twenty-sixth year of King Asa’s reign in Judah. (Elah) reigned in Israel two years.
Elah only reigned for two years because one of his commanders – Zimri – assassinated him. So then – when did Zimri become king? King says: Zimri began to rule over Israel…in the twenty-seventh year of King Asa’s reign in Judah. So that doesn’t sound quite right.
If Elah started his two-year reign in Asa’s 26th year and if he reigned for two years then you’d think he was assassinated in Asa’s 28th year.
What do I do? I don’t know for sure so I’m guessing but one way to come at it is to figure that Elah’s two-year reign wasn’t a 365×2-year reign. In that case Elah became king in Asa’s 26th year (which counts as Elah’s year one) and he was assassinated in Asa’s 27th year (Elah’s second & last year).
Trying to deal with bible dates can be a nightmare. I’m maybe tempted to say to the writer “you’re wrong because Elah couldn’t have reigned for 730 days” but the writer comes back with “who’s saying anything about 730 days all I said was that he reigned during two calendar years?”
Trying to deal with bible dates is a real nightmare so while I’m reading-through I usually just read them and move on.
Today was an exception.

Note: quotes from 1 Kings 16:8 & 15 (NLT)

Week 14 1 Kings

An unnamed man of God (MoG) prophesied to Jeroboam. Afterward Jeroboam invited him for a meal but the MoG refused – the Lord had told him not to eat or drink.
Heading home the MoG met an old prophet (OP). The OP invited him for a meal but the MoG refused – the Lord had told him not to eat or drink.
But the OP insisted – told him that an angel had said it was okay. The MoG must have figured the angel’s word carried weight. He ate with the OP.
Unfortunately a follow-up word from the Lord came saying that because the MoG disobeyed he would die on the trip home. And he was killed by a lion.
On the surface the MoG seems like a stand-up guy who’d been tricked by the deceptive OP – who seemed like a liar and a bad guy. But I really don’t think that’s the point. I think the point arrives when the OP tells the MoG: you have defied the Lord’s message and have disobeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. That was the key thing.
The MoG got specific directions. And when his obedience was tested – and it was a wily & devious test – he failed.
To begin with the MoG did what he was supposed to do. But in the end he didn’t do what he wasn’t supposed to.

Note: references from 1 Kings 13:9, 17. Quote from 13:26 (NLT)

Week 14 1 Kings

Early in the Solomon story there’s a niggling little comment that the writer makes: Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
Four other bible versions use that same word – except. Solomon followed the Lord…except for one almost irrelevant departure.
It’s a small thing and easy to miss. The author skips over it quickly and so I do. But it’s not as easy to skip what happens in chapter eleven: King Solomon…loved many foreign women…And his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God. The author doesn’t just slide over this one.
I looked back at the promise the Lord gave Solomon: if you walk before me in integrity of heart…I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever…But if you or your sons turn away from me…and go off to serve other gods and worship them…then I will cut off Israel from the land…and will reject this temple. The Lord gave Solomon a pretty rock-solid guarantee. But it came with the condition of devotion.
And unfortunately by the end of his life Solomon’s almost whole-hearted devotion to the Lord had eroded into half-hearted and then into no-hearted non-devotion.

Note: quotes from 1 Kings 3:3, 11:1 & 4, 9:4-7 (NIV)

Week 13 1 Kings

Today I read about Solomon’s Temple and thought back to the story of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Two building projects, similar like an Amish barn-raising is similar to a company getting a city-contract for low-rental apartments.
Exodus took about seven chapters detailing plans for the Tabernacle. 1 Kings doesn’t record anything about the planning stage.
On Mount Sinai the Lord gave Moses exacting instructions on how the Tabernacle should look. Solomon didn’t go to Sinai and the bible doesn’t say anything about him getting blueprints from the Lord.
Bezalel & Oholiab were given special Tabernacle-building talent by the Lord’s Spirit. Solomon hired Hiram – an accomplished metallurgist but – from what we can tell – not spirit-talented.
People willingly donated materials to build the Tabernacle but the Temple didn’t have much community engagement. Costs were covered by the state and police-enforced labour did all the heavy lifting.
The two projects were different. But it looks like the differences were over-look-able because when Solomon dedicated his Temple to the Lord a cloud filled the temple – a very good sign – and the Lord said: I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple which you have built…My eyes and my heart will always be there.
So it looks like Solomon’s government-contracted bricks-and-mortar project was done with his heart in the right place.

Note: quote from 1 Kings 9:3 (NIV).

Week 13 Psalm 82

I’ve tended to give verse #1 the once-over-lightly treatment when I’ve read it before: God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the “gods”. [My principle there is that when something is tough to dope out it’s maybe easier not to bother trying.]
But today I’m wondering. It says that the Lord is presiding in an assembly hall of some sort and that there are gods of some sort in that hall and that the Lord is communicating in a formal and judicial way to those assembled gods. It looks like the Lord asks them why they have defended injustice (which if they have would put them in a not-good-god category). Then a couple of verses later it looks like the Lord says to the gods: you are all sons of the Most High. But you will die like mere men.
Gods of some sort. But they’ll die like men die.
Probably the easiest way to manage this verse is to call it an elaborate and imaginary picture that isn’t actually true. If it’s a metaphor I can bring it down-to-earth.
But I’m reluctant to do that too soon.
For now I’ll go with an actual judicial assembly that’s operating in a supra-material dimension where – in addition to the Lord – there’s a group of divinities & angelic beings of some type, some of whom are evil.
I’ll keep looking to see if I can find anything to substantiate this model.

Note: quotes from Psalm 82:1, 3, 6-7 (NIV)