Month: May 2022

Week 22  Ezra 9-10

Ezra’s last two chapters are a Reader’s Alert section because they absolutely sound like Ezra’s on an anti-inter-racial marriage rant. It looks like his rule is: a Hebrew guy has to marry a Hebrew gal. No other combination is permitted. Which seems weird. I think back to Rahab. Think back to Ruth. Think of outsiders who married-in.
I re-read the first paragraph and realize my problem might have started when I glided over verse one: the people of Israel have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring people with their detestable practices. The issue was racial but included loving ‘detestable’ practices of other races. So racial-plus-religious.
When I add religion to race I expand my matrimonial options:
a) a Hebrew guy reveres the Lord and marries a Hebrew gal who reveres the Lord
b) a Hebrew guy despises the Lord and marries a Hebrew gal who reveres the Lord
c) a Hebrew guy reveres the Lord and marries a Hebrew gal who despises the Lord
c) a Hebrew guy despises the Lord and marries a Hebrew gal who despises the Lord.
Four weddings that technically comply with the Hebrew-Race Marriage Rule. But 75% of them are scrambled when faith is in the mix.
So it’s like Ezra was using his marrying-within-the-race requirement as code-language for marrying-within-the-faith. The code was likely assumed by Ezra and likely understood by his audience. But it’s confusing for a reader who misses that key point.

Note: quoted from Ezra 9:1 (NIV)

Week 21  Proverbs 2

Reading-through is a bit like a house with a basement and a couple of upper floors. On the basement-level I pretty much focus on reading-through. But then there’s this reminder from Solomon about an upstairs too. A chance to elevate my range. He says: if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, if you look for it as silver and search for it as hidden treasure…then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
Ideas like accept store-up tune-in apply explore probe scrutinize understand – they’re upstairs reading concepts. Enhancements to basic reading-through.
If I stay on the basement-level I can just read through. And if reading-through is all I’m doing I don’t need to worry much about accepting Solomon’s words or keep them in mind. Don’t have to worry about turning-my-ear to wisdom or about applying-my-heart to understanding. No calling out for insight…no crying aloud for understanding…no searching for valuables.
But I’m curious about upstairs and so I try to keep it in mind. There’s nothing wrong with basement-level reading – it’s fine & good & necessary. It’s definitely my starting level. But eventually I begin nosing around upstairs. Do some investigative reading. Extend my scope. Tune-in. Apply. Explore.  Understand. Like that.

Note: quote from Proverbs 2:1-5 (NIV)

Week 21  Proverbs 1

Solomon compares Wisdom to a woman walking through a city and shouting out to pedestrians: you simpletons!…How long will you go on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? It sounds a bit like name-calling but Wisdom ends up on a conciliatory note: come and listen to me! she says. I’ll pour out the spirit of wisdom upon you and make you wise. Her insults are more like attention-grabbing overstatements for personal development’s sake.
Anyway the thing I noticed is that Wisdom keeps walking the city streets for quite awhile but eventually she goes silent. Goes from trying to help to completely quitting: you ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble!…I will not answer when you cry for help. Even though (you) anxiously search for me, (you) will not find me.
Right at the front-end of Proverbs Solomon says that wisdom-to-make-me-wise is available. And I’ve got time (it sounds like a lot of time) to make my own personal decision to either stay-as-I-am or move toward wisdom. The niggling detail is that I don’t have unlimited time. Wisdom makes her pitch…she waits & waits…then the offer is taken off the table. At that point I can carry on as per usual.
Wisdom’s promise is that I’ll: live in peace and safety, unafraid of harm. But it’s up to me to decide whether to buy what she’s selling.

Note: quotes from Proverbs 1:22 23 25-28 33 (NLT)

Week 21  2 Chronicles 26

The chronicler is interested in the kings of Judah and today I read about Judah’s king Uzziah. Right away I notice one of the things the chronicler says about Uzziah: he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done.
If I’d opened the bible today and just randomly read chapter 26 by itself I would know two things for sure and I’d also figure one other thing. The two things I’d know are: a) Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and that b) Uzziah is compared to his father Amaziah in doing right. The one logical thing I’d figure is that Amaziah did what was right.
But I read the stories of three kings today. Joash (chapter 24). Amaziah (chapter 25). Uzziah (chapter 26). And because I’d read Amaziah’s story five minutes before I turned the page back and re-read that: (Amaziah) did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.
What that means is that when I read that Uzziah did right just-like-his-father Amaziah I’m getting an early tip-off that Uzziah’s doing right-ness might be a qualified and kind of un-wholehearted brand of doing right-ness.
And that’s what happened: after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God.
So Uzziah was like his father in his faith and his non-faith.

Note: quotes from 2 Chronicles 26:4 & 16 25:2 (NIV)

Week 20  Psalm 148

Psalm 148 begins and ends with the phrase: praise the Lord.
In between it mostly talks about who and what praises the Lord. But it also spells out why a person would praise him – it says because: a) his name is very great and b) his glory towers over the earth and heaven.
When I praise some guy I’m recognizing that he has talent or skill or ability. But when I praise the Lord I’m sensing what’s more like peerless & unrivalled giganticism.
Praising a person and praising the Lord are so different that using the same word is a bit problematic. If I could I’d use different words. For example I might Recognize or Acknowledge or Compliment a person. But I’d use a heavier word – like Extol or Laud – if I was talking about the Lord.
With Praise #1 I’m admitting that I’m impressed. Praise #2 is more of a thunderstricken ego-shriveling wakening-awareness of overwhelming brilliancy.
Praise #1 applies to lots of things. For instance if one boy’s frog jumps farther than his buddy’s frog I could say “what a great frog!” That’s Praise #1. Praise #2 is more exclusive. It’s a mind-boggling superiority.
I know that a word can have different meanings. And I think a lot of bibles use the word praise to cover different meanings. But if I had a chance to make editorial changes that would be one I’d make.

Note: quotes from Psalm 148: 1 14 13 (NLT)

Week 20  2 Chronicles 14-16

The chronicler whittled down the story of king Asa to three episodes. The first and last stories are pretty important and pretty similar – both look at how Asa reacted to international conflicts.
In the first story an overwhelming Ethiopian army mobilized against Judah. Asa did two things: a) he deployed his armed forces and b) he prayed: Lord, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you alone.
In the last story the northern tribes of Israel invaded Judah. Asa did one thing: a) he paid a mercenary army from Damascus to defend Judah.
In both cases Judah came out on top. But after the second operation a prophet came to Asa and criticized him: don’t you remember the Ethiopians? At that time you relied on the Lord, and he handed them all over to you. So there was a reliance issue.
In Battle #1 Asa relied on the Lord.
In Battle #2 Asa relied on Benhadad.
My first impression is that Asa mostly relied on the Lord (but then had that one foul-up with Benhadad). But the chronicler adds a little footnote that makes me wonder. Asa had a foot disease and when it: became life-threatening, he did not seek the Lord’s help but sought help only from his physicians. So maybe after a strong start Asa’s reliance on the Lord declined incrementally over a long forty-one year reign.

Note: quotes from 2 Chronicles 14:11 16:8 & 12 (NLT)

Week 20  Psalm 146

One of the supplementary goals I have while I’m reading is to track what the bible says about the Lord. So yesterday when I noticed a few things listed consecutively in psalm 146 I wrote them down.
The Lord:
Brings justice to oppressed people
Feeds hungry people
Releases innocent prisoners
Restores sight to blind people
Helps people who are loaded down
Provides a haven for immigrants
Helps parentless kids
Helps women who’ve lost their husbands
Is dependable/reliable
Loves righteous people
There was one more that didn’t quite fit with the others…
The Lord frustrates evil people.
I was mostly interested in the first ten items and thought for a while about how the process worked out in life – for instance in Yemen. How the values crossed-over into actionables.
Anyway today I read psalm 147 and I was surprised to see what looked like a condensed version of yesterday’s list: the Lord supports the humble but he brings the wicked down into the dust. (I composed my own short version: the Lord helps people who are vulnerable and wretched and dejected and tormented. But he turns against people who are ruthless and evil and arrogant and exploitive.)
One of the things I’m doing while I’m reading is putting together a composite of the Lord. It’s harder than I thought it would be. So 146-147 are a helpful addition to the mix.

Note: paraphrase from Psalm 146:7-9. Quote from 147:6 (NIV)

Week 20  2 Chronicles 7

The story of the Lord appearing to Solomon in chapter 7 was also told in 1 Kings 9 so I page back and do a quick comparison.
The bible I’m looking at subdivides the Lord’s speech into paragraphs. The 1 Kings version has three paragraphs (seven verses). 2 Chronicles has four paragraphs (eleven verses). Flipping back-and-forth I see that the content of paragraphs #1 #2 & #3 in Kings matches up pretty closely with Chronicles’ paragraphs #1 #3 & #4. And so Chronicles’ paragraph #2 is the odd-paragraph-out.
That second paragraph says that in the event of a national disaster – drought or crop-failure & famine or plague – if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (It seems like pretty important advice and I wonder why Kings didn’t include it.)
In the event of meteorological or ecological or medical crises – whatever other material actions I take first – there’s this short list of non-material emergency responses. I should:
Reel-in my arrogance
Seriously search for the Lord
Start talking to the Lord
Quit doing evil things.
It’s a fairly abstract list of recommendations for pretty concrete material-world crises. So they might not be the first things I’d try. Still…there they are. Part of my emergency prep resources.

Note: quote from 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NIV). See 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 & 1 Kings 9:1-9.

Week 20  1 Chronicles 28

Not long before he died David gave Solomon some father-to-son advice:
Acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
Years later – his dad was long gone – Solomon got a similar kind of prompt-reminder from the Lord:
If you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever.
In the early & middle stages of his life Solomon had a run of successes and he eventually became the greatest king Israel ever had. But as years rolled by Solomon got sidetracked: as (he) grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God…He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
Solomon’s end-story is a sad reminder that getting good advice at the front end is only as useful as adopting a Good-Advice Maintenance Program over time. Staying on track is at least as tough as getting on track.

Note: quotes from 1 Chronicles 28:9 1 Kings 9:4 & 11:4-5 (NIV)

Week 20  Psalms 140-143

On the news yesterday I saw a team of sappers moving along a sunny forested road in eastern Europe. Taking their time. The countryside was clear of invaders but not clear of the landmines they’d left behind…
Maybe that image was still in memory today when I was reading psalms 140-143 (my plan was to just read 140 but the computer was running a lot of updates so I kept reading).
The four psalms are similar. They’re all written by David. They’re all short. They all have a similar vibe…they’re all I’m In A Jam Please Help Me Out psalms.
One of the things I noticed was that even though David was alert to Obvious Big Dangers – like getting assassinated – he was also aware of Trickily Disguised (But Still Potentially Deadly) Problems – like getting tripped up & trapped & snared & ambushed by his enemies…
(They) have set a trap to catch me…they have set traps all along the way
Keep me out of the traps they have set for me
Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.
David doesn’t mention traps and snares in 143 but he does ask the Lord: show me where to walk…teach me to do your will…May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.
It’s a pretty good prayer: please show me where to walk. A kind of Sapper’s Prayer for negotiating zones with hidden dangers.

Note: quotes from Psalm 140:5 141:9 142:3 143:8 (NLT)