Kruse Kronicle

Reflections on the Parable of the Compassionate Father

[Previous]

My presentation of Kenneth E. Bailey's work on Luke 15:11-32 is woefully lacking. Still, I hope these recent posts have helped us see how rich the story is when viewed through Middle Eastern eyes. Having closely examined this parable, we now ask what to do with the parable. The temptation is to "gut" the story by identifying "the point" Jesus was trying to make. That would be a tragic error.

The modernist era has taught us to distill reality to its foundational elements. In this mode of thinking, the assumption is that Jesus was telling this parable to illustrate a point. He had "a" point he wanted to make and built a story from that point. When we can identify and articulate that point, we think we understand the story. If we approach the story this way, we are doing violence to Jesus' teaching.

The Parable of the Compassionate Father, just like other parables, is not an illustration to make a point. It is the presentation of an alternate reality. Bailey writes,

“A biblical story is not simply a “delivery system” for an idea. Rather the story first creates a world and then invites the listener to live in that world, to take it on as part of who he or she is. Biblical stories invite the reader to accept them as his or her story.” (Jacob and the Prodigal, 51)

We are all living under illusions about who we are and who God is. Stories like The Parable of the Compassionate Father disillusion us so we can see ourselves for who we are, and we can see God for who God is. They invite us into an alternate reality. They invite us to be characters within that new reality. I would argue that not only is that the purpose of this parable, but it is the purpose of scripture. God is at work disillusioning us with His story so we may enter into communion with God and with others he has called into community.

All this is not to say that there isn't a place for identifying key elements of parables and finding themes. These enrich our understanding of God's character and can help make the stories more accessible. The danger comes in assuming that because we have abstracted what we believe to be key elements, we now "get it."

Personally, this parable has touched me in so many ways I can't recount them all. It just keeps getting richer through the years. There have been times when I have felt completely alone and abandoned. I craved closeness to God but could see no way to come home. Then there was this image of God running through the village to greet me! I find that part of the story hard to swallow at times.

Other times, I have been outraged at the honor paid to those I knew were "less spiritual" than I am. There have been opponents I secretly, if not openly, longed to see humiliated and brought down. When they weren't, I wondered why I was being obedient to God. Would God just let them get away with everything? Then I would see the image of God standing before me in a courtyard, and as I venomously cried out against him, he kept asking me to come inside the house for the celebration.

Henri Nouwen authored a book called The Return of the Prodigal. The book is about his mediations as he viewed the painting by Rembrandt about this story. He tells how he came to identify with the prodigal son. He shared with a friend about his reflections, and the friend questioned whether Nouwen was not more like the older brother. As Nouwen reflected more on this story, he realized that he was indeed all too much like the older son in the story. He began to question which he more identified with, the prodigal or the older son. He eventually concluded he identified with both.

At the end of Nouwen's book, he articulates a discovery that I also realized. He had been asking which son he was most like. In doing so, he was missing an essential piece to the story. The story is not about the sons. The story is about the father!

Furthermore, there is an implicit invitation in the parable. That invitation is to take on the character of the father! We easily identify with the sons, but the call is to be the father.

Not many years after Jesus' resurrection, the apostle Paul wrote (emphasis added):

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death --
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians  2:5-11, NRSV)

As we come to Christmas, let us realize that the baby born in Bethlehem was merely the first step of a father leaving his mansion to go into the courtyard and out into the streets to invite his children to come home. God is inviting us even now to take on the character of the father in the parable and invite our brothers and sisters, younger and older, to enter the celebration.

[Continued]

An Evangelism Apologetics Fusion (3)

About three months ago, I posted the following definitions:

Delusion – a false or mistaken belief or idea about something. psychology - a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially as a symptom of psychiatric disorder.

Illusion - something that deceives the senses or mind, for example, by appearing to exist when it does not or appearing to be one thing when it is in fact another.

Delusion and illusion are central themes of scripture. Delusion is a perfect description of fallen humanity. Communally we create illusions that reinforce our delusions. This is not to say there isn't good in human cultures. For a counterfeit to be successful, it must contain enough of the substance of the real thing to give the appearance of being the real thing. Our human cultures are facsimiles of the real thing, but they lead us away from God and not to him.

God is not content to leave us in our lies. He disillusions us so we can see him and ourselves for what we are. Jesus is the ultimate disillusionist. As head of the Church, he calls us to individually and corporately be disillusionists.

We are called to be in authentic community. Authentic community simultaneously exposes illusions and offers a window into the reality of the Kingdom. Maybe you have heard the adage that says, "Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words."

At the interpersonal level, tension must be raised about the efficacy of the illusions we live under. We are to be tools for creating that tension as Christians. This does not mean we are combative or belligerent. On the contrary, our disillusioning should be characterized by an unsettling sense of love and marching to the beat of a different drum.

When the tension is raised, we are called to point the way to Jesus and the authenticity that can be found in him and his Kingdom. This is evangelism, the telling of the good news of the Kingdom among us.

Unfortunately, most of liberal Christianity is hesitant to say anything definitive about Jesus. They would rather be in dialog, find common ground, and combat "universally accepted" notions of social injustice. This is their "good news of the Kingdom," or evangelism.

Conservative Christians focus inordinately (often exclusively) on personal salvation, usually motivated by a desire to resolve personal tensions in one's own psyche. Personal inner peace and freedom from the consequences of sin are the driving issues. This is their "good news of the Kingdom" or evangelism.

Neither of these scenarios leads to a world where every person, every social structure, every principality and power, and every realm is brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. One leads to social justice based on human wisdom, and the other leads to psychological healing. The Kingdom comes only by people answering a call to radical discipleship. It comes by lovingly and relentlessly disillusioning others and ourselves, so we can fully embrace God and his mission in the world.

Economic Justice Index

Economic Justice

Distributive Justice

Commutative Justice

Remedial Justice

Economic Catalyst

Disillusion [Index]

The Economic Catalyst

For the past few days, I have written about economic justice as we find it in the Bible (Distributive, Commutative, and Remedial.) As we look at the world at Israel's birth, we see cultures full of economic oppression. Slavery was widespread. Poor people were of little consequence. Court justice was skewed toward those with power.

As we have seen, God entered the picture by calling out the nation of Israel and establishing a code of behavior that would set them apart from other nations. Slavery was abolished among Israelites, as was interest on loans made to poor people. The Jubilee Code eliminated perpetual servitude by restoring each person's land and labor every 49 years. Instructions like the ones about letting poor people glean the edge of the fields sought to address poverty at the expense of economic efficiency. Provisions were made that would create just economic transactions, and remedial standards were set for those who suffered criminal loss.

The New Testament era was a much different time. Israel was under the thumb of the Roman Empire and had little say in many of the issues addressed. Jesus and the New Testament writers said little about commutative or remedial justice, as much of that was not within their control. However, they repeatedly warned against favoritism for the wealthy and oppression of the poor. Jesus taught his followers not to be anxious about material needs and seek first the kingdom. Jesus kept pointing to a higher vision that included but went beyond the prescriptive rules of the Old Testament. He spoke of the Kingdom of God as present on earth but pointed toward a day when everything would be reordered.

With all that said, what is the answer to economic injustice today, especially among the poorest of the poor, who make up half our planet? Those of a more liberal view are likely to advocate for wealth redistribution through debt cancellation and aid. The more conservative types are more inclined to suggest that stable governments with sound fiscal policies and democratic institutions are the place to start. There can be reasonable cases made from the Bible for both these avenues, and I suspect in most cases, both are required. But there is still an essential ingredient that has not been mentioned.

There is a story of an experiment involving a fish in a fish tank. A glass partition was placed in the tank separating it into two halves. Food was dropped into the side of the tank opposite the fish. The fish would swim at the food and encounter the glass. It would try again. After several episodes of this, the fish would not even try for the food, even after the barrier was removed. In fact, the fish would just sit at the bottom of the tank with the food falling around it. It had become hopeless.

Hope is the key to economic transformation. Somehow people must come to believe that tomorrow can be better than today. Delayed gratification, so essential to investing, is based firmly on the ability to hope for a future reward. Hope is needed to believe that time invested in education and training will make any difference. Without hope, all the debt cancellations and redistributions combined with political and governmental reforms are just so much food falling around the fish in the fish tank. These are not approaches that incarnate hope.

Hope is the unspoken theme of the passages I have been writing about. Sabbath rest required the regular exercise of hope. Jubilee gave hope that there would be a new chance at some future date. Jesus encouraged us not to be anxious about our future and material needs. He pointed to a vision of a coming Kingdom with complete shalom. He incarnated that message. Yes, we are called to push for just debt arrangements and political and governmental reform. But it is also the mission of the Church to be the incarnate presence of Christ, giving witness to hope.

Hope is the economic catalyst. The Church can contribute to economic justice in a way no government or corporation can. It begins with these simple words among the poor:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, 
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Luke 4:18-19 NRSV

Disillusion [Index]

Economic Justice [Index]

Remedial Justice

In addition to distributive justice and commutative justice, there is also the issue of remedial justice. Remedial justice addresses just compensation and punitive action when malicious or careless damage has been done to life, liberty, or property. One must be reasonably certain that the fruits of their labor will not be taken by capricious or malevolent behavior if we expect them to invest their resources in producing goods and services. Otherwise, why take the risk? It stifles the role God intends for us as co-creators and renders the idea of private property meaningless. Here are just a couple of passages addressing remedial justice in the Old Testament:

Lev 19:15 NRSV

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.>

Deut 16:19-20 NRSV

19 You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

There are even specific penalties listed for various crimes:

Ex 22:1-2 NRSV

1 When someone steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, the thief shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. The thief shall make restitution, but if unable to do so, shall be sold for the theft. 2 When the animal, whether ox or donkey or sheep, is found alive in the thief's possession, the thief shall pay double.

Ex 22:7-8 NRSV

7 When someone delivers to a neighbor money or goods for safekeeping, and they are stolen from the neighbor's house, then the thief, if caught, shall pay double. 8 If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house shall be brought before God, to determine whether or not the owner had laid hands on the neighbor's goods.

Ex 22:14-15 NRSV

14 When someone borrows an animal from another and it is injured or dies, the owner not being present, full restitution shall be made. 15 If the owner was present, there shall be no restitution; if it was hired, only the hiring fee is due.

These are just a few examples of God's laws for Israel, illustrating God's concern for remedial justice.

The lack of justice in Israel was a constant refrain with the prophets. Amos had one of the most eloquent pronouncements:

Amos 5:12-15 NRSV

12 For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins--you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate. 13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said. 15 Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

Amos 5:21-24 NRSV

21 I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Jesus and the New Testament spent little time addressing governmental structures. Instead, Jesus encouraged us to go beyond simple justice equations like "…an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Jesus instructed us to love our enemies, including respect for their possessions and health. If this ethic were widely shared, there would be no theft and violence and no need for remedial action in the first place. When Jesus met Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus seemed instantly to understand that he must make restitution for what he had stolen if he wanted to follow Jesus. When Jesus announced his ministry at Nazareth, he announced the Jubilee, the ultimate in remedial economic action to prevent permanent economic bondage.

Disillusion [Index]

Economic Justice [Index]

Commutative Justice

Commutative Justice is about honest and just economic transactions. It is a major theme in both Testaments of the Bible. From the Old Testament:

Lev 19:11 NRSV

You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.

Lev 19:13 NRSV

You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.

Lev 19:35-36 NRSV

You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight, or quantity. You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Deut 25:13-16 NRSV

13 You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, large and small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small. 15 You shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are abhorrent to the LORD your God.

Economic transactions of the time often involved grain, ointments, food, and precious metals. A scale consisting of a beam balanced on a stem, with trays of equal weight on each side, was used to determine weight and price. Weights were placed on one side, and the substance to be weighed was placed on the other. Standardized weights were removed one by one until the two trays were in balance. Then a price was rendered. A dishonest merchant would use weights that would misrepresent quantities to his advantage.

Proverbs frequently warns against dishonest behavior and using false scales and measures. The prophet Micah wrote:

Micah 6:11-12 NRSV

Can I tolerate wicked scales and a bag of dishonest weights? Your wealthy are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, with tongues of deceit in their mouths.

In the New Testament, Jesus said, "Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one." (Matthew 5:37). Upon meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus decided to refund anything he had overcharged people. (Luke 19:8) Paul, referring to the Old Testament, instructs, "…for the scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,' and, "The laborer deserves to be paid." (1 Tim 5:18) James warns the rich, "4 Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts." (James 5:4-5)

Our culture operates in a much more complex economic environment, and many of our issues were not explicitly addressed in Scripture. For instance, discrimination in hiring and promotion would fall under commutative justice. Nevertheless, honest and just economic transactions were a central concern of biblical ethics and must be a central part of any Christian economic ethic.

Disillusion [Index]

Economic Justice [Index]

Distributive Justice

Reading the legal codes in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, private property was taken for granted. One of the Ten Commandments was "Thou shall not steal." Numerous references exist about appropriate restitution when someone's property has been taken or damaged. Private property was central to Old Testament economic life.

However, ownership of private property was not absolute.

Deut 15:4-5 NRSV

4 There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the LORD is sure to bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, 5 if only you will obey the LORD your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.

The law required that farmers not harvest all the way to the edge of the field. (Leviticus 23:22) The Jubilee restricted permanent land transfer. (Leviticus 25) Also, the Israelites were required to contribute to the Levites' care and certain governmental activities. There were communal issues that took precedence over property rights.

Nowhere in Scripture do we see a mandate for an equal distribution of income. Some argue that the Jubilee Code in Leviticus 25 was wealth redistribution, but, as I showed on Monday, it was no such thing. Some have used Acts 2:45 to suggest that the Early church intended communal ownership of property:

Acts 2:44-45 NRSV

44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

These actions were taken under extraordinary circumstances. The church was exploding. Many new believers would have been disowned by their families. Christians voluntarily pooled their resources to meet the need. This was not a model for an ongoing church community. Even Jesus' parables seem to endorse the idea of investing and earning according to the resources entrusted to us. (Matthew 25:14-46)

Seemingly, God desires to have billions of Adams working their own "gardens." He created all of us to be stewards of God's resources. When all goods are held in common, productivity and creativity, tend to drop to the level of the laziest and most incompetent. There is no incentive to work harder. Any increased productivity merely accrues to the slackers. Private property encourages the conscientious use of resources to their maximum benefit. Therefore, the most economically productive arraignment is private property. Still, God's mandate that there "be no one in need among you" trumps productivity.

Disillusion [Index]

Economic Justice [Index]

Economic Justice

Before we can talk about globalization, debt cancellation, or any other economics-related topics, we must understand what constitutes economic justice. The term means different things to different people. I believe there are three aspects to economic justice:

 

1. Distributive Justice – This addresses how capital and goods are distributed throughout society.

 

2. Commutative Justice – This addresses the truthfulness of parties to an economic exchange.

 

3. Remedial Justice – This addresses just compensation and punitive action when malicious or careless damage has been done to life, liberty, or property.

 

I want to visit the biblical implications for these three over the next few posts, but first, I think it would be good to make explicit three underlying assumptions:

 

1. God is the owner of all there is, and we are but stewards of God’s resources. This takes economics out of the purely human realm and puts it in an eternal perspective.

 

2. Humanity was made for co-creative work. Work is good! God created each person with a set of gifts, giving them a passion for specific work. God gets immense joy out of our work.

 

3. God wants economic bondage for no one. The curse pronounced on Adam was that he would earn his living by the sweat of his brow. This was not God’s plan. Humanity exacerbates the problem through individual sinfulness and corrupt social structures.

 

With all this in mind, what does the Bible say about economic justice?

 

Disillusion [Index]

Economic Justice [Index]

Fill the Earth

Gen 1:27-28 NRSV

27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

Gen 2:15 NRSV

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

Gen 9:1-2  NRSV

God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth."

God called humanity to be co-creators. God placed Adam in the garden to be steward over it. God told Adam, and later Noah, to "fill the earth." Certainly, "fill" means to expand over the earth and populate it, but it means much more. Humanity is the glory of God. By filling the earth with co-creators in a loving relationship with God, the earth becomes filled with God's glory!

Unfortunately, Adam rebelled, and then Cain. Instead of expanding and glorifying God, Cain was entrenched in a city and glorified himself. After Noah came the people of Babel. Instead of expanding and glorifying God, they entrenched in a city and glorified themselves. God brought the Israelites into existence to be a light unto the world, but they also turned inward and glorified themselves. Even today, the Church is told to go into the world and fill it with God's glory, but how many of us have huddled in our worship communities and placed our comfort ahead of glorifying God? History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.

Additionally, humanity has not proven reliable partners as co-creators with God. Instead of using the resources God has entrusted us toward ends that glorify and honor God, humanity has used resources to oppress others and create autonomy. Economic injustice has been the norm throughout all human history.

When we answer the call to co-creator stewardship, we do ministry. Ministry is defined as acting in response to God. Ministry is not defined by what we do. It is defined by who we are doing it for. The call to co-creator stewardship has not expired or been superseded. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6:

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. NRSV

This is a basic Trinitarian call to ministry. Exercise of spiritual "gifts" for building up the body of Christ is the call of the "Spirit." Kingdom "services," or carrying on the works of Christ, are the call from the Son. Doing varieties of "activities" or "working" is the call of God the Father. We are all called to all three, but most of us will concentrate our energies on creation stewardship.

We are called to be stewards of creation in a world of economic injustice and rapid globalization. What should our response be? It seems a good place to start might be to ask what we mean by economic justice. 

Disillusion [Index]

Jubilee Index

Jubilee (Part 1)

Jubilee (Part 2)

Jubilee (Part 3)

Jubilee Ethic

Jubilee and Debt Cancellation

Disillusion [Index]

Jubilee and Debt Cancellation

Ask most people about "Jubilee," and they will say they have never heard of it. If they have heard of it, it is often because of the Jubilee 2000 organization, now known as Jubilee Research. This organization has lobbied for debt cancellation for the poorest of the lesser developed countries (LDCs). They have had the backing of several celebrities, including Bono of U2. Last month they sponsored a giant rally called Live 8. Jubilee USA Network is the American partner in these efforts.

The movement uses "Jubilee" as biblical support to insist on "debt forgiveness" for the poorest nations. Typical of the rationale statements is this one from Jubilee USA Network:

"In the Jubilee Year as quoted in Leviticus, those enslaved because of debts are freed, lands lost because of debt are returned, and community torn by inequality is restored."

Advocates often say lenders have an obligation to cancel debt because of the Jubilee code. But was this what the Jubilee code truly taught? I want to be unmistakably clear about what I am addressing here. One can make a case for debt cancellation on various economic and moral grounds. But is Jubilee a legitimate rationale for debt cancellation? The answer is essentially no.

Leviticus 25 is the passage containing the Jubilee code. Every seven years, the Israelites were to let their land lie fallow. Debts were suspended for the Sabbath year. Every seventh Sabbath, there was to be a "Jubilee." (Some say this was fifty years, and others say forty-nine years, depending on how they calculate.) During this year, all land leases and terms of indentured servitude were to expire. Notice I did not say "debts forgiven" and "slaves freed." Nor was there any restoration of a community "torn by inequality." The whole point of the code was that it kept inequality (with regard to land and labor) from emerging in the first place!

Leviticus 25:14-16 NRSV

14 When you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not cheat one another. 15 When you buy from your neighbor, you shall pay only for the number of years since the Jubilee; the seller shall charge you only for the remaining crop years. 16 If the years are more, you shall increase the price, and if the years are fewer, you shall diminish the price; for it is a certain number of harvests that are being sold to you.

If an Israelite came on tough times, he could "sell" the land to another. Although, if we look with any scrutiny at this passage, we see that a better contemporary characterization of the transaction would be "leasing," not "selling." The land could be leased based on a price equal to the number of crops from the time of the transaction to the start of the next Jubilee Year. The same was true of indentured servitude. One could lease labor for a period of years from the time of the transaction until the Jubilee Year. (Leviticus 25:39-40.) The passage explicitly says that these laborers were not to be considered slaves. There was no "debt" to cancel or "slaves" to set free!

Old Testament culture was without the concept of commercial debt financing. Economics was a zero-sum game. Debt was established because an individual needed help. The Old Testament forbids charging interest on debt because the only concept of debt was of helping needy people. The Hebrew word nashak is translated as interest, meaning "to bite, to strike with a sting (like a snake.)." Not pretty.

With the advent of Pax Romana, secure trade routes developed, and debt financing began to appear among merchants. The issue of debt for personal needs was still very much present, but commercial debt had also become a reality. Jesus directly references this in his parable about the talents in Matthew 25:27. The Greek word interpreted as interest here was tokos which at its root meant "to bear or bring forth." It was a word with positive connotations, and commercial debt with interest was not condemned in Scripture.

There is nothing immoral about wealthy nations making commercial loans to poorer nations. The very term "debt forgiveness" inappropriately conjures up the image of the Lord's Prayer. No forgiveness is needed, just a decision about the cancellation of a contract. (For an interesting article on this topic, see Debt Forgiveness: Plain Speaking Please.) There is nothing immoral about commercial debt. Since the Jubilee Code doesn't even address debt, much less debt cancellation, it cannot be marshaled as an injunction to cancel debt today.

There is plenty of material in Scripture to challenge our thinking about debts owed by LDCs without using Scripture like a ventriloquist dummy for our agendas. The general theme of the Leviticus Code seems to be that God did not want the Israelites in economic bondage and wanted all the Israelites to participate in God's plans by owning their own land and labor. Jubilee could be instructive about the ultimate purposes of lending and aid, but to suggest that there is a mandate for unconditional debt cancellation based on the Jubilee Code is nonsense.

I want to reiterate that the above says nothing about the appropriateness of the debt cancellation the Jubilee movement is seeking. Some of the loans lenders made were irresponsible. On the other hand, in some instances, debt cancellation will remove any leverage of control over corrupt governments and put millions of dollars in the coffers of autocratic thugs. These are just a couple of variables in a complex mix of problems. Simplistic solutions backed by proof-texting from the Bible may make many idealists feel good, but it will likely leave countless millions in their suffering.

Disillusion [Index]

Jubilee Ethic

Jubilee sounds like an idea with great potential. However, as Yogi Berra once observed, “To say a player has potential means he hasn’t done it yet.” (Of course, he also said, “I didn’t really say a lot of the things I said.”) There is no evidence that Israel ever observed the Jubilee. In fact, they didn’t even observe the Sabbath years. The Israelites were taken into captivity in Babylon for seventy years. The writer of 2 Chronicles tells us in 36:20-21 that the seventy years stood for each Sabbath year that had not been observed for approximately 490 years.

Nevertheless, the Jubilee instructions came from God. Employing the redemptive-movement hermeneutic (RMH) I discussed a few days ago, I think there are values we can glean from the unrealized plan. As you will recall, there was an X-Y-Z formula involved. (See Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic and Redemptive Movement Hermeneutic Diagram)

X stands for the particular cultural context a Scripture passage was written in.
Y stands for the concrete words of Scripture and the ethics they teach in contrast to culture.
Z stands for the ultimate ethic that God intends for eternity.

Sooo….

X – The Israelites had just left Egypt. God had systematically exposed the sham of Egyptian gods and power. They were on their way to Canaan, where God would order the destruction of the child-sacrificing Baal worshipers. The Egyptians would be to the south, the Babylonians to the east and the north. The Israelites would be surrounded by cultures that believed in ruthless domination. Slavery was widely practiced, and human life didn’t count for much. Idol worship was central to their existence.

Y – Three times in Leviticus 25, God reminded the people that he was the one who brought them out of Egypt. God had claim over all humanity, but something more was emphasized here. God points to his astonishing intervention in Egypt and makes clear that God had called the nation into existence and that God was the one who would rule. Israel had a special call to mission, and God expected obedience.

There were economic ramifications to God’s instructions. First and probably foremost, the land was God’s, and the Israelites were to be stewards. The Jubilee was grounded in Sabbath observance, based on trust in God for provision. It was also about taking time to reflect on God and worship him.

Second was God’s provision for economic freedom. God delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. Slavery was to be abolished between Israelites in the new land. An Israelite could be indentured to another but only for a fixed period. They were not to be treated as slaves but rather as hired help. The Jubilee provided the opportunity to begin anew for the one who fell on tough times. For the slacker or the imprudent, it meant having to make a go of it once again. Either way, perpetual servitude was abolished.

Third was God’s expectation of stewardship. Everyone had been given their economic freedom and land to work. (The Levites had been given houses within cities.) Land could be leased out for a time but always was to revert to the owner. It seemed God wanted people free from economic bondage and working the land God had entrusted them. Access to land and labor, the means of production, appears to have been part of God’s vision. There was to be none of the economic bondage (between Israelites) that existed in the surrounding nations.

It must be assumed that the nation would have grown beyond what the original lands would support over time. The Jubilee code does not explicitly anticipate this development. Would God assign more lands and hold the same code? Would the Israelites take the code and apply it to lands they took that were not part of the original tract? Would there be new decrees? We will never know.

Z – Israel was to be God’s reflection to the world of what God desired for the rest of the world. I think there are at least three issues regarding ultimate ethics here. First, the Jubilee points to God as the ultimate source of our economic prosperity and freedom, not us. As an ultimate ethic, we are to trust in God for provision. Second, God wants each of us to actively participate in the stewardship of life, including economic life. Part of that stewardship is not being foolish lenders or borrowers. Third, our economic activity is to honor the dignity and value of our neighbors instead of engaging in oppressive relationships toward each other.

The Jubilee story always raises the question of why God allowed the Israelites to enslave others if God did not want slavery for humanity. I think the question can be answered with another question. Why did God allow divorce by written certificate? Jesus said it was because of “the hardness of their hearts.” The Jubilee and the divorce laws were not the ultimate ethic. They were pointers away from the surrounding culture toward the ultimate ethic God has in mind.

Disillusion [Index]

Jubilee [Index]

Jubilee (Part 3)

Leviticus 25:35-46 NRSV

35 If any of your kin fall into difficulty and become dependent on you, you shall support them; they shall live with you as though resident aliens. 36 Do not take interest in advance or otherwise make a profit from them, but fear your God; let them live with you. 37 You shall not lend them your money at interest taken in advance, or provide them food at a profit. 38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.

39 If any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves. 40 They shall remain with you as hired or bound laborers. They shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 Then they and their children with them shall be free from your authority; they shall go back to their own family and return to their ancestral property. 42 For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves are sold. 43 You shall not rule over them with harshness, but shall fear your God. 44 As for the male and female slaves whom you may have, it is from the nations around you that you may acquire male and female slaves. 45 You may also acquire them from among the aliens residing with you, and from their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property. 46 You may keep them as a possession for your children after you, for them to inherit as property. These you may treat as slaves, but as for your fellow Israelites, no one shall rule over the other with harshness.

From our distant perspective, it is hard to appreciate how radical these instructions were. All the nations surrounding Israel engaged in slavery. This was the abolition of slavery among the Israelites. They could take slaves from other nations, but based on laws from Leviticus and elsewhere in the Old Testament, slaves were treated better than in surrounding nations. There is also a provision against charging interest, but it is clearly in the context of someone in desperate need.

Leviticus 25:47-55 NRSV

47 If resident aliens among you prosper, and if any of your kin fall into difficulty with one of them and sell themselves to an alien, or to a branch of the alien's family, 48 after they have sold themselves they shall have the right of redemption; one of their brothers may redeem them, 49 or their uncle or their uncle's son may redeem them, or anyone of their family who is of their own flesh may redeem them; or if they prosper they may redeem themselves. 50 They shall compute with the purchaser the total from the year when they sold themselves to the alien until the jubilee year; the price of the sale shall be applied to the number of years: the time they were with the owner shall be rated as the time of a hired laborer. 51 If many years remain, they shall pay for their redemption in proportion to the purchase price; 52 and if few years remain until the jubilee year, they shall compute thus: according to the years involved they shall make payment for their redemption. 53 As a laborer hired by the year they shall be under the alien's authority, who shall not, however, rule with harshness over them in your sight. 54 And if they have not been redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children with them shall go free in the jubilee year. 55 For to me the people of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Yesterday I wrote that there technically was no “sale” of land in Israel. The transactions were lease agreements. The same was true for labor. No Israelite was sold into slavery. They leased their labor for a period of years running from the lease date until the next jubilee. If someone had to sell their land or labor due to either too tough times or injudicious action, they would be saved by the jubilee. No one could be permanently alienated from the means of production, namely land and labor.

Disillusion [Index]

Jubilee [Index]

Jubilee (Part 2)

Leviticus 25:13-17 NRSV

13 In this year of jubilee you shall return, every one of you, to your property. 14 When you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not cheat one another. 15 When you buy from your neighbor, you shall pay only for the number of years since the jubilee; the seller shall charge you only for the remaining crop years. 16 If the years are more, you shall increase the price; if the years are fewer, you shall diminish the price; for a certain number of harvests are being sold to you. 17 You shall not cheat one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

The land was treated as a means of production. It technically was not sold. It was leased. The maximum lease price was based on the number of crops before the next Jubilee. Sabbath years were subtracted from this total, and the debtor was not required to make payments in Sabbath years (Deuteronomy 15:1-3). There was no debt forgiveness here because the lease expired at the beginning of the year of Jubilee. The Jubilee established an effective check against reckless lending or borrowing.

Leviticus 25:18-28 NRSV

18 You shall observe my statutes and faithfully keep my ordinances, so that you may live on the land securely. 19 The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live on it securely. 20 Should you ask, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop" 21 I will order my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will yield a crop for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating from the old crop; until the ninth year, when its produce comes in, you shall eat the old. 23 The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants. 24 Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land.

25 If anyone of your kin falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property, then the next of kin shall come and redeem what the relative has sold. 26 If the person has no one to redeem it, but then prospers and finds sufficient means to do so, 27 the years since its sale shall be computed and the difference shall be refunded to the person to whom it was sold, and the property shall be returned. 28 But if there are not sufficient means to recover it, what was sold shall remain with the purchaser until the year of jubilee; in the jubilee it shall be released, and the property shall be returned.

This passage shows that Jubilee was more than just an economic directive. It was an opportunity to experience God's direct provision. It also shows that God was a big believer in an "ownership society," or at least a "stewardship society." Each person and family were to have an inalienable right to land and labor, the means of production.

Leviticus 25:29-34 NRSV

29 If anyone sells a dwelling house in a walled city, it may be redeemed until a year has elapsed since its sale; the right of redemption shall be one year. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has elapsed, a house that is in a walled city shall pass in perpetuity to the purchaser, throughout the generations; it shall not be released in the jubilee. 31 But houses in villages with no walls around them shall be classed as open country; they may be redeemed and released in the jubilee. 32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites shall forever have the right of redemption of the houses in the cities belonging to them. 33 Such property as may be redeemed from the Levites -- houses sold in a city belonging to them -- shall be released in the jubilee; because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel. 34 But the open land around their cities may not be sold; for that is their possession for all time.

It is reasonable to assume that land buyers benefited from the crops and livestock they produced while holding land they had leased. Whatever increase they experienced beyond the price they paid was not redistributed. Real estate purchased inside walled cities was not redistributed either. It was productive land and labor that was inalienable. Interestingly, verse 33 says the Levites' houses were inalienable because it was "…their possession among the people of Israel." God felt it imperative that everyone have a material interest in the stewardship of creation.

Disillusion [Index]

Jubilee [Index]

Jubilee (Part 1)

The nation of Israel was formally established at Sinai by God, with God as king. At that time, God instructed the people as to righteous behavior. The books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy contain many laws addressing how the people were to relate to God and how the people were to relate to each other. The image of a God who blessed the faithful with peace and prosperity would show the world God's intention for all humanity. In other words, shades of Eden

Despite scores of passages about economic-related issues, no economic model is presented in the Old Testament. The primary economic model appears to be "Do what God says." Probably the most instructive passage relating to economic behavior is the Leviticus 25 instructions concerning the sabbath and Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:1-7

1 The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: 2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a sabbath for the LORD. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield; 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the LORD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vine: it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 You may eat what the land yields during its sabbath -- you, your male and female slaves, your hired and your bound laborers who live with you; 7 for your livestock also, and for the wild animals in your land all its yield shall be for food.

To my knowledge, Sabbath observance began here. Some make a case for Sabbath observance back to Adam, but the consensus seems to be that it originated at Sinai. It is hard to imagine a more dramatic display of trust in God than to see an entire society cease labor for an entire year every seven years. Such a practice would free the Israelites from anxious striving and draw their focus to God. Neighboring people could not help but take notice.

Leviticus 25:8-12

8 You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month -- on the day of atonement -- you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. 10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces.

The Jubilee was to occur on every seventh Sabbath year or once every 49 years. The wording of the passage makes it confusing, and some have said it was to be every 50 years. However, by the time of the New Testament era, most Jewish scholars believed that the first year was the period between years 0 and 1, the second between years 1 and 2, and so on. Thus, the fiftieth year was between years 49 and 50. This is similar to living in the 2000s but calling it the Twenty-First Century.

The key economic principle hinted at here is that there was a type of private ownership. Each person was told to return to their own land. However, God granted ownership and could not be permanently transferred to anyone else. In short, the land was ultimately God's land, and the Israelite was a steward of it. Their land was to be a reminder of God's faithfulness.

Disillusion [Index]

Jubilee [Index]

Capital Ideas

One of the fundamental rules for using Scripture is to avoid reading our culture into the text. Scripture was written into a particular context. When we read about economic issues, we must read them within context. What has changed about economics since the Bible times? A Lot!

 

Most people have worked in agriculture over most of human history. Trade of produce and livestock was the focus of exchange. Labor and land were the two primary means of production. Wealth was measured by the amount of land and labor one controlled and the harvests and livestock one generated. As a community began to generate a surplus of agricultural goods, some members were free to pursue other activities besides agrarian work. Still, agriculture has been the driving force in most places and times. As late as 1885 in the United States, it is estimated that families produced 80% of what they consumed. That number had flipped to purchasing 80% of their consumption by 1915. 

 

This is not to say there was no “store of value” or “money” in ancient times. There was. Money was usually in the form of precious stones and/or metals. But money was primarily used for paying taxes and other specialized exchanges. Barter and trade predominated.

 

All of these factors together reinforced a “zero-sum-game” view of economics. It was thought that one can gain wealth only at the expense of another’s loss. How could it be otherwise? There was a fixed amount of land, a fixed amount of labor, and a fixed amount of precious stones and metals. It is hard to overestimate the impact of free-market Capitalism and the creation of corporations on how we now see economic life.

 

With the invention of steam power in the 1700s and then the internal combustion engine, it became possible to increase the output of a fixed number of laborers dramatically. However, the machines that made this production possible were expensive. Few individuals had the resources to purchase the equipment on their own. Individual investors pooled their money to create partnerships. Events in the United States, like the construction of the Erie Canal and the development of railroads, exponentially raised the level of amassed resources needed to accomplish the tasks. The government did not have the money, and investors had no practical way to pool the necessary resources. Corporations evolved to address these needs.

 

Corporations are “fictitious persons” under the law. Ownership of the corporation was divided among the owners based on the proportion of the total resources they had invested. If the venture succeeded, the owners profited by dividends paid according to their proportion of ownership and/or appreciation in the value of their shares of stock. If the venture failed, they were only liable for the invested amount. Unlike partnerships, where the venture was dissolved each time a partner died or sold their ownership, corporations seamlessly transferred ownership between investors with no disruption to operations, giving corporations a perpetual existence. The management of corporations was placed under the control of a chief executive officer with oversight by a board of directors elected periodically by the owners.

 

The means of production dyad of land and labor became a triad by adding capital to the mix. Capital consisted of financial resources, buildings, machines, and equipment used in production. The battle of the Twentieth Century was often said to be between Capitalism and Communism. That was a misnomer. Both camps believed in amassing capital, or “Capitalism.” They disagreed over whether the markets for goods and services and the ownership of the means of production should be unrestrained or controlled.

 

Another change that emerged during this time was the use of debt. Lending money became less about assisting someone in need and more about investing. I said earlier that economics had always been seen as a zero-sum game. Free market Capitalism ushered in the idea of an ever-expanding “pie” of wealth. With this mindset, if I can borrow a sum from someone for a fixed period, promising to pay the lender back the amount plus 5%, it may be worth it if I can grow my portion of my pie by more than 5%. The lender wins by getting a 5% increase, while the debtor wins by being able to produce what they otherwise would not have been able to and still expand their wealth. Equity financing (stock ownership) and debt financing became the twin economic “pie” expansion engines.

 

Why this economic history lesson? Think about how this has impacted how we view ownership, employment, debt, production, land use, and exchange in our times. It is impossible to directly transfer the Old or New Testament values into our Twenty-First Century global, capital-driven economy. Caution must be used about reading our present experience into ancient cultures.

 

With this fully in mind, it is time to revisit some Scripture.

 

[Index]

Keepers of the Pig Sty

Centuries ago, in feudal England, one's wealth was based largely on the amount of land and livestock owned. An army of servants managed livestock. A "ward" was a servant responsible for some aspect of the operation. The feudal lord's most valued possession was often his herd of pigs. Consequently, the most trusted ward was the one who watched over the sty where the pigs lived. He was the "sty ward." "Steward" (from sty-ward) is the word that emerged in English to describe our relationship with God concerning material possessions. "Steward" is not a frequently used word anymore, but it is probably the best description of our relationship to wealth.

My father-in-law used to raise hogs. He worked at a meat packing plant toward the end of his career. He had oversight of the enormous freezer warehouses where the slaughtered hogs were kept. The hogs had to be kept at just the right temperature and moisture level, or they would be ruined. I once asked him what he thought of his job. He said, "On a good day, I am responsible for millions of dollars of inventory. On a bad day, I hang around a bunch of dead pigs." Melissa and I will occasionally ask each other how our day went. Sometimes, when things haven't gone well, we say, "I had a dead pig day."

The fact is that "dead pig days" or not, we can only have two relationships with wealth. We can forgo wealth or be stewards of it for God. The wealth we control eventually passes from our hands to another's hands. As Don Henley used to sing in his song "Gimme What You Got," "…you don't see hearses with luggage racks." The illusion is that we make our own wealth and are free to do with it as we please. But God declares:

Deut 8:17-18 NRSV

17 Do not say to yourself, "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

God is ultimately responsible for what we have, and all of it returns to God.

[Index]

Strong Medicine

The Ten Commandments' first three or four commandments (depending on how you number them) addressed our relationship with God. The remaining commandments deal with our relationships with each other. Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments were "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself." He taught that all the commandments are grounded in these two.

If there had been no rebellion from God, would these commandments have been needed? I don't think so. I think we would have been so thoroughly integrated into God's character that these behaviors would have been instinctive. What threw humanity off track was an illusion of injustice. The sin in the garden was accepting an illusion that framed God as a tyrant and us as gods. As I reflect on the ten commandments, it strikes me that they all have one common theme: They are all related to our human desire to be in control, or as Genesis puts it, "to become as God."

Having no other gods, not making graven images, and using God's name falsely all address our desire to manipulate God for our ends. As George Bernard Shaw said, "God created us in his image. We decided to return the favor." The Sabbath stands against our frenetic striving to be ever more in control.

Honoring father and mother speaks to a desire for power and autonomy so strong that we would subvert what should be the most nurturing of relationships. Our rebellion against godly authority becomes rebellion against earthly authority.

So consumed are we with our desire for power and autonomy that we will end the life of another to get what we want. We will destroy the oneness of marriage to fulfill our basest desires. We will take what belongs to others and pass it off as our own. We will spin lies and deceptions to gain or protect what power and autonomy we can. Even if we don't act on our desire, we will compare our lives to other people's lives. We will nurture such a longing for their status that we will destroy meaningful relationships with others and develop contempt for what we have been given. Such was the nature of the world into which God spoke these commandments.

The Ten Commandments are strong medicine intended to disillusion us and expose the truth of who God is and what he wants for us. God's means of disillusioning the world was creating a disillusioned people amid a world full of illusion.

[Index]

One God

Several weeks ago, I wrote about viewing Scripture as a six-act play. Act 1 was the creation of the heavens and earth and the placement of Adam and Eve in Eden. Act 2 was the rebellion of humanity against God. Act 3 began with Abraham's call and the Israelites' birth. It continues up to the birth of a child in Bethlehem.

Act 3 began with the call of Abraham and the saga of his family down through Joseph and the sojourn of the people into Egypt. The next scene is the Exodus of the people from Egypt and into Canaan (after a lengthy detour.) Immediately after they depart from Egypt, God takes Moses up on Sinai and explains what God expects from God's chosen people.

Significantly, the Ten Commandments begin with God identifying as the one "who brought you out of the land of Egypt," not as the universe's creator and sustainer. God's instruction is based on the special relationship with a people God has chosen and not just as supreme Lord. The Ten Commandments are to be the moral and ethical foundation for God's chosen people in contrast to the rest of the world.

Catholic and Lutheran traditions believe verses two and three of Exodus 20 to be a preamble. They split verse seventeen into two commands, one about "coveting your neighbor's house" and the other about "coveting your neighbor's wife. This makes three commandments concerning our relationship with God and seven about our relationship with each other. Most Protestant traditions see verses two and three as the first command and view verse seventeen as one command. This makes four commands about our relationship with God and six about our relationship with each other. Either way, there is a clear division into two types of commands. Look first at the God-focused commands.

Why no other gods and no graven images? As I noted in earlier posts, fallen humanity must worship. Being estranged from God through sin, we create false gods to give our lives the illusion of order and meaning. It has been common to erect symbols as representations of our gods to make these gods more real to us.

Abraham had come from Babylonia, where there were many Gods. The Israelites had just left Egypt, where there were several gods. Also, the Israelites were about to enter Canaan with its panoply of Baal and Asherah gods. The Ten Commandments interject something startling into history. They insist on monotheism. "No other gods before me" does not mean Yahweh should be first in line among other gods. It means there are to be no other gods before or in God's presence.

A common symbolization of the gods in Babylonia, Egypt, and Canaan was cattle. The irony of the biblical story is that just as Moses received his instructions, Aaron was "passing the hat" through the camp to collect gold so he could make a golden calf. Upon completion, he said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" (Exodus 32:4 NRSV) The Hebrew Elohiym is translated as "gods" here and is one of God's names, although it can have other connotations.

Some commentators suggest that Aaron was not outright rejecting Yahweh but was mixing the worship practices of the region with the worship of God. These practices entailed extremely licentious behavior. Syncretism was the sin here, and it would plague the people for centuries in Israel. God denounced any representation of God and demanded that God alone be worshiped according to directions. God also proscribed any use of God's name that would trivialize or minimize God's authority.

Finally, there is no known precedent for the Sabbath in ancient culture. The lives of the ancients were a continuous oppressive effort to survive. Work was ceaseless except to worship the gods from whom they hoped to earn divine favor. God entered the picture and told the people that their survival depended not on their frenetic efforts but on their faithfulness to God. The Sabbath was a time to cease labor and demonstrate their reliance upon God. It was also a time for people to reconnect with God and God's purposes. The Sabbath was a defiant contrast to the oppressive, fearful lives of the people in the land.

The worship of God alone, combined with Sabbath observance, was a direct assault on the illusions of the surrounding cultures.

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Laying the Moral Foundation

The Israelites experienced God's miraculous deliverance from bondage in Egypt. God deconstructed the illusion of power and permanence of the Egyptian Empire. God had called out a people that would give witness to God in the world.

At Mount Sinai, God spoke to Moses and gave him the foundational moral and ethical framework for the people. The Ten Commandments were not spoken into a vacuum. They were spoken to a people surrounded by cultures that were enemies of God. These commandments pointed away from fallen humanity and toward an ultimate ethic grounded in God's character.

Ex 20:1-17 NRSV

1 Then God spoke all these words:

2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me.

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work -- you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

13 You shall not murder.

14 You shall not commit adultery.

15 You shall not steal.

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

[Index]

What is the Difference?

Author Dick Keyes once wrote, "In seeking to become like God, we have become less than human." The biblical story says we were created to be in a relationship with God. When humankind rebelled, we lost our orientation, and we lost our immortality. There was nothing left to give order and meaning to our existence. Human existence became the land of the living dead.

We were made for a purpose. We were made for eternity. The land of the living dead is an intolerable place to live. We create civilizations and cultures (symbolized by the city) to shelter us from our absurd existence. Inequities inevitably emerge in these cultures. Powerful elites use culture to justify and perpetuate their power. Often many are oppressed. Still, the masses honor the social structures because of the stable orderliness they bring.

But these human shelters are, in the end, little more than elaborate illusions. The illusions collapse if pressed too hard. Consequently, human culture aims to keep the populace sufficiently diverted from seeing the absurdity of their existence. Idols are offered as objects of worship. These idols may be graven images or something as abstract as credits in a bank account. If most people buy the illusion most of the time, then all is well.

Walter Bruggemann speaks of culture creating an "eternal present." People are deluded into believing that things are the way they have been and always will be. The present order is the moral imperative. Those who would challenge the order are either insane or evil. They are subversive.

In this context, a subversive God steps into the picture. God intervenes in human history. God begins by calling Abraham and starting a nation that will reflect God's character to the world. It is a subversive God leading a subversive people. God leads God's people into the grasp of the most powerful human illusions ever on the face of the planet, ancient Egypt.

The amazing story of the Exodus is not just one of God setting his people free. It is a story of God systematically debunking the "eternal present" of the Pharaoh and Egypt. This event points to the end of time when God will bring God's people out of the "Egypt" of human culture and into the New Jerusalem. God will debunk the human pretenders, and every knee shall bow.

As I mentioned, God accomplishes God's mission partly by calling out a new people to model the relationship God intends between humanity and God's self. Later it became the Church. The visible presence of God working in God's people is a sign to the rest of the world and a constant subversive challenge to other cultures.

So, what is it about God's called-out people that make them different? What are we to make of Old Testament laws? What are we to make of the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament Church? How do we even begin to apply these ancient texts written to a world of rapid globalization? We risk dangerous errors without the Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic I wrote about last week.

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Reprise: Genesis 12-50 and Illusions

I have been writing about "illusion" for the last six weeks within the context of the book of Genesis. I have more Bible study to share later, though maybe not as in-depth as I have been doing with Genesis. Having reached the end of the book, I thought I would suggest some of the themes I have seen as I have studied the book. You will find a link to my posts on this topic at the end. I conclude at least the following.

* God created us to be in a loving relationship with God.

* There are evil forces at work that want to destroy that relationship.

* The primary means of destroying the loving relationship is to trap humanity into seeing a false image of God and flaming the passion within us to be our own gods. We become deluded in our minds.

* Apart from God, there is no meaning and purpose for existence. We either cannot find God because we are cut off from God, or we choose not to find God because of the implications it would have for us. We are between a rock and a hard place.

* Our solution to our dilemma is to create a powerful enough illusion to reinforce our delusions of autonomy. The illusion will also characterize God as someone other than who God is. The most symbolic representation of this illusion project is the city. Enoch and Babel are the most significant examples in Genesis.

* God reaches "down" to us with a promise to restore the relationship between humanity and God. (i.e., Jacob's ladder)

* The plans of God cannot be thwarted, as evidenced repeatedly in the stories of Genesis. God is sovereign.

* While not fully revealed in Genesis, the first signs are present about God's intended means of returning humanity to God's self: Disillusion. God will dispel human illusions so we may see God for who God is and how much God desires to be in a relationship with us.

Are there others? I hope this study has been meaningful so far.

Here is a link to the post dealing with Genesis 12-50:

Tale of Two Cities
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Magical City
Going West
Melchizedek
Inconceivable!
God Will Provide
Isaac's Failing Vision
God Gets the Last Laugh
Stairway to Earth
Jacob's Prayer
Jacob or Israel
Jacob's "Safe" Option
Jacob Returns
Joseph

For links to posts dealing with the first eleven chapters of Genesis:

Reprise

[Index]

 

Joseph

My illusion posts have carried through the first thirty-five chapters of Genesis. The remaining Genesis chapters tell the story of Joseph. It is a very rich and multi-layered story. I will not probe this story, but I want to make two observations.

The story's scheming, deception, and mind games are ….. well …. of biblical proportions. The key verses in the whole saga for me are 50:19-20. Upon their father's death, Joseph's brothers are fearful of what Joseph might do to them. Joseph assures them.

Gen 50:19-20 NRSV

19 But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? 20 Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.

Joseph began as a cocky spoiled brat. God gave him a dream of the future where he would be in authority. You must wonder if Joseph would have been so thrilled about the dream if he knew what he would go through on the way to the fulfillment of the dream. At the journey's end, he could see God's involvement in every aspect. As he matured, he was disillusioned from his youthful arrogance and found his identity in God.

Finally, back in Genesis 10, we counted seventy nations that had filled the earth. Seven and ten were perfect numbers, and seven multiplied by ten signified a large perfect number. In Genesis 46, we find the following:

Gen 46:27 NRSV

27 The children of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.

Scholars believe that "seventy persons" refers to the seventy nations in Genesis 10. Israel was to become a symbol, a microcosm of what God intended for the entire world. The seventy people represented the seventy nations and God's plan to bless them all. Symbolically, the entire world had become refugees from their home (symbolized by Israel entering Egypt.) But one day, God would miraculously bring them home to a place he had promised (From Egypt to Canaan through the Red Sea.) A foreshadowing of things to come?

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Jacob Returns

Gen 35:1-7 NRSV

1 God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau." 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes; 3 then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone." 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak that was near Shechem.

5 As they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities all around them, so that no one pursued them. 6 Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.

Jacob returned to Bethel both physically and spiritually. Jacob's destination was this until fear gripped him and diverted his journey. He decided to play it "safe." The "safety" nearly destroyed his family as foreign Gods and lifestyles seduced them. Instead of being peaceful shepherds in the land, they became feared aggressors. God called Jacob once again amid the disaster. God called him back to where it started.

Jacob began with repentance. The narrator foreshadows rituals found in the Mosaic Law. Jacob required the clan to put away their foreign gods, literally and figuratively. The people responded. Jacob disposed of the idols and thereby resumed his role of authority. They put on clean clothes symbolizing a life of purity. Having repented (turned around), Jacob headed to Bethel.

Jacob built an altar upon arrival and named the place El-Bethel. I wrote earlier that Bethel meant the "house of God." The new name meant "God of the house of God." Jacob had realized that God was not confined to a place. No shrine or temple could contain him.

Jacob had departed from God's call out of fear. The fear deluded into his mind that it would be safer to go other than where God was leading. He bought into the illusion of safety even as his family was lured to spiritual death by embracing foreign gods and lifestyles. So numbed was Jacob that he had become indifferent to the horrifying assault on his daughter. God used the vengeful wrath of Jacob's sons to snap the spell Jacob was under. God disillusioned him. God called Jacob on to the reality he had in store. Jacob repented and followed. He realized it was the only "safe" thing to do.

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N. T. Wright "Shipwreck and Kingdom"

Today's Berkley Blog was about a great sermon by N. T. Wright to the Anglican Consultative Council on 28 June 2005. It is a long read, but I highly recommend it.

Shipwreck and Kingdom: Acts and the Anglican Communion

Here is one excerpt I particularly wanted to note in light of my ongoing posts on the illusions of human culture and the call to disillusionment.

"It is sometimes proposed today that in order to grasp the political meaning of the New Testament, you have to downgrade the theology; as though, for instance, a high Christology would lead you off in the direction of 'religion' rather than politics, or as though talk of the bodily resurrection would project you out into the world of 'pie in the sky when you die' rather than the hard, real world in which we are called to work for justice and peace. In fact, as Paul or Revelation would make just as clear as Luke, the opposite is the case. It is because Jesus is bodily risen from the dead, because Jesus is Israel's Messiah, because he is the one and only Lord of the world, that the Sadducees are worried, Herod is worried, the Athenians are worried, the idol-makers of Ephesus are furious, and ultimately, if he knew his business, Caesar should be making his will. The point about Jesus going to heaven is not that we'll go there to be with him one day, away from this wicked old world at last. The point is that from heaven he is ruling the world, ruling it through the faithful lives, the suffering and the witness of his Spirit-driven apostolic followers, calling it to account, demonstrating that there is a new way of living, a way which upstages all Caesar's pretensions to have saved the world, or united it, or brought it genuine justice, freedom and peace. (All those claims, by the way, are the standard things that all empires have claimed, whether in the first century or the twenty-first.)"

Jacob or Israel

The same night as Jacob's prayer at Penuel, Jacob had yet another encounter with God.

Gen 32:22-32 NRSV

22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." 27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." 29 Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore, the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle on the hip socket because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

There are many different takes on this story. What we do know is that Jacob was born clutching Esau's heel. Jacob struggled with Esau and prevailed. Then Jacob struggled with Laban and won. At the time of this encounter, he had just sent everyone ahead of him and was standing alone. Then, he was confronted by a mysterious opponent who wrestled with him through the night. Some have suggested that this was Esau, and others an angel of God. The passages themselves seem to indicate God himself in some limited human form.

Jacob wrestled through the night, demonstrating his perseverance and stamina. These were worthy traits that had served him well. Yet with one touch, God injured his hip joint, the key point of strength for a wrestler. God took away his strength, both physically and metaphorically. Immediately Jacob initiated a verbal struggle with God as he grabbed hold of God and demanded a blessing. Jacob's perseverance went from reliance on his own abilities to boldness in weakness. He saw the face of God and lived.

The name Jacob means "supplanter" or "deceiver." Jacob had been under the illusion he could always prevail by using his cunning and skill. God removed the illusion. God said his new name was Israel, which means "wrestles with God" (and wins His blessing.) Jacob now recognized true victory was through bold reliance on God. The illusion of self-reliance was gone. There has been an endless struggle over which name to claim for his physical and spiritual descendants: Jacob or Israel.

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Jacob's Prayer

Yesterday I wrote of Jacob's encounter with God at Penuel. Jacob proceeded from there to the home of his uncle Laban. Laban and Jacob ended up in a game of deception in which Jacob prevailed. After one last deception, Jacob fled in anticipation of Laban's anger. Laban pursued Jacob, but no harm came as the two made a covenant.

At this point, Jacob could no longer return to Laban, and his hostile brother Esau was ahead of him. Jacob learned he had reason to be alarmed because Esau was indeed coming out to meet him with a large party. At the Jabbok River, during the night, Jacob decided to send gifts ahead, send family ahead, and then he would follow behind. But he also prayed the following:

Gen 32:9-12 NRSV

9 And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,' 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. 12 Yet you have said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.'"

Jacob invoked God. He acknowledged his own failing. He asked for God's intervention based on the promise God had given him. Finally, he expressed his confidence and hope in God. Jacob transcended what seemed, from a human perspective, to be a hopeless situation. He chose to believe God.

This was the first and only prayer of real substance recorded in Genesis, and it symbolizes the growing awareness by Jacob that he has a relationship with God. But the night had just begun for Jacob.

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Stairway to Earth

Gen 28:10-22 NRSV

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And the LORD stood beside him and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place -- and I did not know it!" 17 And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you."

Esau was not pleased about being duped out of his blessing. Isaac blessed Jacob again and sent him to Paddan Aram (away from Esau) to find a wife. On this journey, Jacob had an amazing encounter with God at the royal Canaanite city of Luz.

In earlier posts, I wrote about the attempt to build a tower to heaven at Babel (Gate of God). They intended to name themselves and take authority over their own lives. The word translated "ladder" here is a little obscure in its meaning and could mean "stairway." Indeed, a familiar image in Mesopotamia was of people ascending a stairway from the netherworld up to heaven. (Where do you think Led Zeppelin got the idea for their song "Stairway to Heaven?") This also relates to ziggurat (temple of stairways) built at Babel.

Key to the dream is verse 12, where it says the "ladder was set up on earth," which clearly means that it was placed on the earth from heaven. God was reaching down to humanity! The angels moving up and down the ladder symbolized the pre-fall exchange between God and humanity. Amid this dream, Jacob learns that all of humanity is to be blessed through him. But there is more.

Jacob was in the middle of the city of Luz. He was on the run with Esau behind him and uncertain prospects in front of him. His life to this point had been one of scheming, conflict, and struggle. To his astonishment, God broke in and revealed Jacob's actual location both geographically and within God's story. Babel was Babylonian for "Gate of God," but it was a gate humanity was building to bring down God. Jacob calls Bethel the "Gate of God" because he saw it as the place where God was breaking through to reach down to humanity. Jacob was called out of the human "eternal present" into the future God had in store.

God disillusioned Jacob about his plight and called Jacob into a divine plan. The illusion had been exposed.

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God Gets the Last Laugh

I have friends who live on the Arabian Peninsula. I got to spend some time with them a while back. They told me of a somewhat ironic thing happening in the Mid-East. Last year, Mel Gibson released his movie The Passion of the Christ. As you will recall, much of the press leading up to the movie chastised Gibson for his "anti-Semitic" portrayal of the events. Arab and Muslim leaders approved of the movie showing based on the assumption that this would be the case. A cottage industry pirating copies of the movie sprung up everywhere.

My friends tell me that many Muslims are captivated by the movie, and it has sparked more sincere discussions about Jesus than anything else they have seen. Personally, I thought the film was good but not exceptional. But it was hardly anti-Semitic. I conclude that many who objected to the movie's release in the US had political agendas that had little to do with the movie. Yet their opposition and attempts to censor the movie resulted in millions of Muslims seeing the movie who otherwise would not have seen it. Once the movie was out, there was no way to bring it back under wraps. A God thing? It wouldn't be the first time less-than-noble human efforts were incorporated into God's plans.

Yesterday I wrote about Jacob receiving Isaac's blessing through deception. Think about the key players in that story. First, there is Esau, who sells his birthright for a meal and later marries Hittite women. (Hittite women were known to bring their household gods into a marriage, while Aramean women adopted the gods of their husbands. Esau was not to marry a Hittite.) Second, the "wonderful" relationship between Rebekah and Isaac prompts her to scheme behind his back. Third, Jacob steals Esau's birthright and then unabashedly lies to his father to get the blessing. Fourth, there is Isaac, who knows what Esau has done and tries to bless him anyway. No one comes off smelling like a rose in this story. Yet God accomplishes his plan.

God's vision cannot be thwarted. The name "Isaac" means laughter, but God got the last laugh in this case. It gives me the courage to know that even when I mess up and see the Church acting dysfunctional, it cannot stop God's plan.

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Isaac’s Failing Vision

Gen 27:18-29 NRSV

18 So he [Jacob] went in to his father, and said, "My father"; and he said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?" 19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me." 20 But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He answered, "Because the LORD your God granted me success." 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not." 22 So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. 24 He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am." 25 Then he said, "Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you." So he brought it to him, and he ate; he brought him wine and drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son." 27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and 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 the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!"

Isaac had a promising beginning. First, there was his miraculous birth to Sarah. Then came his obedience in the face of death. Later was his marriage to Rebekah by divine guidance. Still later came his trust in God to deliver Rebekah from her bareness. (Once again, the God of the inconceivable brought about what barren humanity could not.) Finally, there was the transmission of Abraham's blessing to Isaac. But something went wrong.

Genesis 27:1 says "When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, …" Apparently, it wasn't only his physical vision that had faded. As the oldest son, it was assumed that it would be through Esau that God would fulfill his promise. Esau was a great hunter, and Genesis 25:28 says, "Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob." But what of Esau's character?

First, we know that Esau despised his birthright by selling it to Jacob for a meal. Second, we know from Genesis 26:34-35, "When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah." The promised line was to come only through the parentage of Abraham's tribe. Knowing all of this, Isaac still planned to bless Esau.

Isaac had deluded himself into believing he could bless Esau. Isaac was confronted with an illusion of Jacob impersonating Esau that complemented Isaac's delusion. Could God not have stopped the charade if the blessing were meant for Esau? Not only did Isaac lose his physical sight, but he lost sight of God's vision. Nevertheless, God's plan prevailed.

[Index]

God Will Provide

Gen 22:1-18 NRSV

1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you." 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.

9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."

There are so many rich aspects to this story. The foreshadowing of God sacrificing his son as a substitute for our sin is especially powerful. Isaac, the one through whom all Israel will descend and all the nations of the earth will be blessed, receives a death sentence. But God intervenes and provides a substitute, just as the nation and the world are sentenced to death through sin, and God provides his son as the substitute.

The key point I want to emphasize is Abraham's action. Cain, as well as the people at Babel, sought to create a civilization. They wanted a sense of immortality apart from God. In contrast, Abraham followed where God led. He circumcised his people. He waited patiently for his son Isaac, the child of promise. He finally had his son Isaac. Sacrificing Isaac was not just giving up a son. From a human perspective, it was giving up Abraham's hope of immortality. Yes, he had Ishmael, but Isaac was the one who would make him "immortal." God was asking the unthinkable for one trapped in the "eternal present" mirage of human culture.

There is no evidence that Abraham ever flinched. He did not tell Sarah, and he did not say to his servants what he was up to when they reached the place of sacrifice. It seems likely they would have given opposition. Isaac did not resist upon discovery of his fate, apparently sensing that it was all of God.

The choice Abraham had was between the gift and the giver. Cain and Babel chose the gift and rebelled against the giver. They created illusions to justify their behavior. Abraham chose the giver and opted to believe that his human knowledge was an illusion. He trusted God would do what he promised despite the illusions.

So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

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Inconceivable!

One of my favorite movie quotes is when Vizzini in The Princess Bride keeps exclaiming, "Inconceivable!" One thing after the other happened that was counter to his expectation. His mind was too barren to conceive of the possibilities.

God made his intention clear that he intended to make a great nation of Abraham's descendants (Gen. 15-18). However, his wife Sarah, barren all her life, is well advanced in years and beyond childbearing age.

Gen 18:9-15 NRSV

9 They [the messengers] said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." 10 Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" 13 The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? I will return to you at the set time, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."

The idea that Sarah could give birth was laughable. Thus, the name "Isaac" which means laughter. It was inconceivable both biologically and conceptually.

Who could have imagined that Sarah would have a child? All evidence of the past and all understanding of biology would have said this barren old woman couldn't give birth. In the same way, who could imagine that anything would change for humanity? All evidence was to the contrary. The present was what always had been and seemed always would be. Humanity was barren of true life. It was the illusion of the eternal present. But then God entered the picture, and God is the God of the inconceivable.

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Melchizedek

Gen 14:17-24 NRSV

17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). 18 And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!"

And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything. 21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself." 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have sworn to the LORD, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, 23 that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, 'I have made Abram rich.' 24 I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me -- Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share."

Chedorlaomer one was of a group of Kings that raided Canaan. Among his partners was Amraphel, King of Shinar. They took Abraham's Nephew Lot captive, along with all his relatives and servants. Abraham pursued, defeated the raiders, and brought Lot back with all his people and possessions. Upon returning, the local kings turned out to greet him, but there was one king of particular interest.

Melchizedek was the priest-king "of the most high God" from Salem, the region neighboring the area where the raid occurred. Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and Abraham acknowledged this priest-king's authority by giving an offering. No one really knows much about Melchizedek except for what we are told in Hebrews 7. There are many intriguing aspects of Melchizedek, but there is one issue, in particular, I want to emphasize here.

Melchizedek was outside the Christian and Jewish Covenant, yet he was considered a priest of the "most high God." He was so important a priest that Abraham, the Jewish Covenant's father, paid him homage. How many other Melchizedek's were there at the time? How many followers were there? What was the nature of their priesthood and relationship to God?

As we will soon see, the story of Scripture is God attempting to disillusion people so they may come into a relationship with Him. As a Christian, I believe the normative way individuals come to God is by disciples of Jesus introducing others to Jesus. But clearly, the Jews before Christ came to God based only on the promise that God would provide a way without ever knowing Jesus by name.

This passage (and later others) suggests that others were in a relationship with God outside the Jewish Covenant. As a Christian, I believe it is only by the grace of God, through the work of Jesus Christ, that anyone (all-inclusive) comes into a relationship with God. But I am doubtful that some who know God know Jesus by name or what Jesus has done for them. It was true in the Old Testament, and there is no reason to believe it is otherwise today.

This issue of how God transforms us raises two potential dangers for me. The first is to believe that only those who know Jesus by name can be redeemed. Combined with this is the seductive idea that because I know Jesus, I have no illusions. Conversely, those that don't know Jesus live totally in illusions.

The second danger is to believe that Jesus is irrelevant to human redemption and disillusionment. God preserved the Testaments for a reason. They allow us to know how to enter the story. We are to invite others to abandon human illusions and join in the story. As we share the story with others who haven't heard, God's light may shine through them to teach us about the illusions we harbor. We need confidence in revelation combined with humility about illusions of our own we have yet to confront. God may have much work to do in us as we share the story with others.

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Going West

Gen 11:31-12:7 NRSV

11:31 Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran.

12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Many people are aware that Abraham was the father of the Jews. What many don't know is where Abraham came from. The city of Ur was in Chaldea, in Shinar, now in the southern part of modern-day Iraq. Ur was the major commercial and worship center of the time. The people of Ur worshiped the moon-god Sin.

The city of Haran was in what is now southeast Turkey, just north of the Syrian border. The people of Haran also worshipped Sin, which may explain why Terah stopped there since Haran was the only other city known to have worshipped this deity. It is implied that God called Terah and the clan to go to Canaan since it says that is where they were headed before God instructed Abraham to continue the journey.

Three things. First, God called Abraham out of "the city" into the land of Canaan. Second, God didn't call Abraham out of just any city. God called him out of a preeminent political and commercial city in Shinar in Abraham's day. Third, God called Abraham from out of the east toward the west, possibly signifying humanity's move toward fulfillment.

[Index]

THE HOLLOW MAN

 

 

 

 

THE HOLLOW MAN

 

(Words and Music by Terry Taylor, copyright 1983, Twitchen Vibes/Paragon Music Corp. ASCAP. Daniel Amos, "Doppelganger," Alarma Chronicles, Volume 2, Copyright 2000, Millenium Eight Records)

(Voice) (Echo)

We are the empty men

We are the masked men Resting, together

Cavity, stuffed with straw Figure, without shape

Shadow, without nuance Impotent power, the empty men Movement, without action All who have gone with true vision To death’s higher dwelling, may recall us here Not as ‘damned, destructive ghost But simply as the empty men Simply as the masked men This is the lost land This is the desert land Here the graven images are built Here is the place they will attain

Entreaty of a lost soul’s desire
Beneath the glimmer of a dying sun
Can it be so in death’s second domain?
No longer asleep

Lonely At the moment of our greatest compassion
Arms that would embrace
Raised in supplication to toppled altars
Where have the eyes gone?
One finds no eyes here
In this empire of dying suns
In this vacant kingdom
The scattered realm of fallen empires
In this final assembly
We stumble together and are silent
Collected on the shores
Of the river disturbance, the barren men

And for one moment the eyes reappear
As the eternal Son moving broken stone

In this land … this land of death’s shadow
The dying wish of a an empty man
The hollow man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**********

Ps 115:2-82 NRSV

Why should the nations say,"Where is their God?"
Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;
they make no sound in their throats.
Those who make them are like them;
so are all who trust in them.

 

Magical City

I loved magicians when I was a kid. I remember watching Blackstone on television. Later David Copperfield came along. I remember seeing magicians at parties and events. It was always fun to watch. But then, in high school, I met a guy who did magic tricks. He showed me how a few tricks were done. I always knew that magic wasn't real (at least, that is my story, and I am sticking to it), but there is something both eye-opening and disappointing when the trick is exposed. The illusion no longer works. You can't go back to the illusion.

I learned from my magician friend that the key to being a good magician is to divert the audience's attention from what you are doing by attracting their attention elsewhere. It is also helpful if the audience wants to see an illusion. They want the illusions to work. That is why building rapport with a crowd is often helpful so they will willingly follow where you are leading.

The city, symbolic of human culture, is the same. Diversion from reality must be achieved at all costs. The dilemma between being unable to enter God's presence and the futility of living without God's presence must not become known. Therefore, an illusion of orderliness and safety is created. Institutions, rituals, myths, and philosophies develop that reinforce the validity of the illusion. No matter how degrading or inhumane, work is the unquestioned duty demanded by the city for the order it brings.

It is not necessary for the illusion to be effective with everyone or with every person all the time. It is sufficient that the vast majority buy the illusion most of the time. Ultimately, the city must keep the community in an "eternal present," for to suggest that there is an alternate reality in the future would call into question the legitimacy of the city today. Whatever future change there will be must be defined as an extension and expansion of the city's values. Therefore, talk of alternate futures, instilling hope in alternate futures, is deeply subversive. It could bring the illusion crumbling to the ground and release people from their numbing complicity in the illusion. Those that talk of alternate futures must be isolated as insane. If they cannot be so isolated, they must be defined as evil and repressed.

I have said God plans to redeem the city and make it God's. This enterprise has at least three aspects to it. First is the revelation that the door to God is not closed. The dilemma so fearfully being avoided is really no dilemma at all. There is a way home. Second is the destruction of the illusion and exposure of those who perpetuate it because of the privilege and power they receive from it. Third is freedom from the delusion in the hearts of individuals that keep them fearful and rebellious, wanting to embrace the illusion.

God is on a mission. He begins in a place called Ur of the Chaldees.

[Index]

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." William Shakespeare--From Macbeth (V, v, 19)

Is this not the description of life apart from God? Life under these circumstances would be unbearable and unsustainable. The despair and futility would be too much. This leaves us in a dilemma. We could return to the truth, or we can manufacture our own gods. Either way, there are insurmountable problems.

First, how can we possibly return to God? We have defiantly rejected God, and we cannot make amends. Even if we could find a way into God's presence, we may find ourselves before a being so powerful that merely looking at his face destroys us.

Second, any god we choose to create is fiction. It is an illusion. To the degree we wholeheartedly buy into the illusion, we are deluded. To the degree we disengage from illusion, we come to Shakespeare's realization that life "…is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Humanity is genuinely between Scylla and Charybdis, a rock and a hard place. Woody Allen once said, "More than any time in history, mankind now faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly." So, what shall we do?

We will build Babel. We will delude ourselves by building a powerful illusion that will divert our attention from the rock and the hard place.

[Index]

Tale of Two Cities

The first eleven chapters in Genesis tell us about two important cities. Enoch was built by Cain, and Babel by Nimrod. Both were cities built as shelters by cursed people wandering the Earth. Cities throughout most places and times have been places not only of shelter but of power and worship. They have been the pinnacle of human existence. The cities provide order amidst chaos and meaning amidst futility. Cities have also been the ultimate expression of rebellion and defiance toward God.

Names of cities often tell us much, as we have seen with Enoch and Babel. The city itself becomes a symbol. One of the first widely regarded sociological studies was Elementary Forms of Religious Life, written by Emile Durkheim in 1912. Durkheim described how ancient cultures identified something in nature as symbolic of their values. For example, a lion might stand for strength or an eagle for freedom. Images of these symbols were carved in stone and wood. These symbols, or totems, become objects of worship. Some cultures created superhuman entities (ex., Greeks and Romans) that represented their values and then worshiped them. In reality, each culture ultimately worshiped themselves, their order, and their safety. As the Apostle Paul wrote about humanity, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.” (Rom 1:22-23 NRSV)

There was a tribe that lived in the land of Cannan before Abraham’s arrival. The object they chose as their idol was Venus, the evening star. The appearance of the evening star symbolized completeness and fulfillment because it signified the end of the day. They called Venus “Shalem.”

Eventually, a city emerged from this culture. Egyptian texts dating from about 1850 BCE reference the city as “Urushalim,” or “city of completeness and fulfillment.” Sometime around 1000 BCE, when King David set up his throne in this city, the name changed to Jerushalim. The first syllable from the name “Jehovah” was taken and added to the front of the name, thereby making it “Jehovah’s city of completeness and fulfillment.” The symbolism is astonishing.

How does God describe human habitation when the Earth is made new? The New Jerusalem! God takes that which humanity created in defiance of God, adds his name to it, and redeems it. God loves the city. God reveals that he intends to redeem the most formidable tool of rebellious humanity and make it his dwelling.

However, we presently live in two cities. We all live in Urushalim (or Babel) and New Jerusalem. The story of Scripture is about a predatory humanity struggling for autonomy doing battle with a passionate, loving God who will not give up on bringing humanity into a loving relationship. Scripture is a tale of two cities.

[Index]

Reprise

As I was thinking about this blog entry, a quote came to mind that I simultaneously read on Tim Keel's blog. Spooky. From the Princess Bride, "Let me e'splain...no, there iz too much: let me...sum up."

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago that envisioned Scripture as a six-act play. (Missing Pages) Here is a recap of how that play might look:

* Act One is the creation.
* Act Two is human rebellion against God.
* Act Three is God's creation of a holy people through Abraham as his witness in the world.
* Act Four is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
* Act Five, Scene One, is the
* Acts of the Early Church. Act Five, Scene Two, is being written right now.
* Act Six is not written but we have enough notes.

Act One

God created the heavens and earth (i.e., "All that is.”) God created humanity. God intended for Adam and Eve to expand and fill the earth. He intended for them to be in communion with Him and co-creators with him.

Act Two

The Serpent cast an illusion that God was cruel. This led Adam and Eve into a delusion that they were deprived. Adam and Eve sheepishly deflect blame and are sent east of Eden. Going east symbolized regression into chaos. God intended for them to be in communion with God as co-creators.

Adam and Eve's oldest son Cain has only token regard for God. He did not bring his first fruits to God as a sacrifice. Moreover, having taken the role of a farmer, he may have been more interested in settling down than filling the earth. Cain becomes jealous of Abel's acceptance by God. Cain kills Abel. Cain has no remorse when confronted. God exiles him to the east, to the land of Nod, the "land of wandering." Cain starts a family and builds a city in a vain effort to give purpose to his absurd existence. Soon violence escalates, and the earth is not filled.

Humanity degenerates to the point where Noah's family is considered the only righteous family left. God destroys rebellious humanity in a flood. Once again, God gives the instructions to multiply and fill the earth.

Noah's youngest son Ham does something dishonorable to Noah, and his descendants are cursed for it. One of these descendants was Nimrod, a mighty and predatory warrior who went east and was responsible for the city civilizations on the plains of Shinar. Just like Cain, these cursed descendants attempt to build illusory civilizations that will give purpose to their existence apart from God. They even scheme to build a temple up to the heavens and dethrone God. God confuses and scatters them. Now, rather than being united in one illusion, they splinter into factions and develop their own illusions. We noted the word "church" comes from the Greek ecclesia, which means the gathered. Babel was a church (gathering) against God. God broke the Church up into many smaller churches spread across the known world.

Genesis 10 tells us of seventy nations when Genesis 10 was written. Seventy signified a large complete number. The "earth" is filled, but humanity rebelled against God. God disrupted the plan for unified opposition, but rebellion is still the hallmark of the countless tribes and nations. God has spread people across the earth, but they are not in relationship with God. God has been framed as a tyrant that should be dethroned and marginalized.

How will God expose the illusions and free people from their delusions?

Act Three - Coming Soon

Index on the Illusion posts so far.

Soon Forgotten
Rolling to My Death in Kansas… Or Not
Will the Real Illusion Please Stand Up?
The First Illusion
And God Created the Serpent
Grand Illusion
Cain's Choice
Cain's Journey Into Darkness
Cain's New World
Cain's Cancer and Radical Therapy
Starting Over
Cain Returns
Church of Babel

[Index]

 

Church of Babel

Our English word "Church" comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which means "the gathered." Genesis 11:1-9 talks about another ecclesia or gathering—the church of Babel.

Gen 11:1-9 NRSV

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east,* they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. (*Most new translations say "as they migrated eastward." NRSV has a note that says this is an alternate understanding.)

The cursed and rebellious descendants of Ham had moved eastward. Again, the move east symbolized a regression toward chaos. They came to the plains of Shinar to build their cities. These cities become the home to some of the most formidable empires ever known, including Assyria and Babylon.

4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

God's mission to Adam and Eve, and again to Noah, was to multiply and fill the earth. Cain rebelled and was cursed to settle in the east in Nod, "the land of being unsettled." Cain's answer to his dilemma was to start a family and build a city. The city would give illusory meaning to his life. It would shelter him and his posterity from the absurdity of their existence.

The rebellious descendants of Ham built cities in the east, just as Cain had. They gathered to create an illusory meaning for their existence, just as Cain had. However, their vision was now bolder. Powerful hunter-warrior kings led these people. Not only did they build cities, but they envisioned conquering all other peoples and gathering them under their domain. They envisioned conquering the very heavens themselves.

The phrase "..let us make a name for ourselves" carries the idea of achieving renown. But that is not the central issue. To name someone or something in ancient culture demonstrated authority over that person or something. The effort here was to name themselves. They would be their own authority. They would build a tower to the heavens and bring God down. God had expelled Cain, and God had expelled them, making them wanderers on the earth. Now they would gather, dethrone God, and expel God from creation. Yahweh could then be relegated to myth and legend while they peacefully enjoyed their delusions and illusions. A more virulent strain of the Cain virus was back.

5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

Verse 5 belittles the Babel project by noting that the Lord "came down to see the city and the tower," suggesting the tower was not so great. But the project was exceedingly dangerous. The people had become completely united in their deluded effort to dethrone God and establish an illusion of autonomy. Scripture does not say that they were given different languages. It does say that they could no longer understand one another. It is unclear exactly how this happened, but whatever the case, they splintered apart into confusion, and the project ended.

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

God accomplished his plan of spreading people across the earth (at least the known earth to the author of Genesis 11.) There were seventy people groups listed in the Table of Nations, and as noted in the previous post, this represented a large perfect number. But there was a virulent Cain virus among the nations. The Akkadian Babilu was the name given to the city by its builders, and it meant "Gate of God." In a Hebrew wordplay, the name became Babel, which means "confusion." God broke up the unified gathering of humanity against him. It became the project of countless factions to create their own illusions of purpose and existence. In place of one gathering, many gatherings sprang up. Instead of one church, many denominations emerged.

Make no mistake about the creation of "the city" and, by extension, civilizations. It was and is a religious project.

[Index]

Cain Returns

Genesis 10 follows the story of Noah and the flood. It is possibly one the most "scintillating" chapters in the Bible, complete with Hittites, Hamathites, Girgashites, and Mosquitobites (Okay. I made up the last one.) When reading the Bible, I always considered chapter 10 to be one of those canonical speed bumps on the way to the good stuff. As it turns out, this little passage has a lot more than I realized.

Chapter 10 is called the "Table of Nations." It gives an account of the origins of each of the peoples known to the Israelites when Genesis was authored. Each origin is traced to one of Noah's three sons, Japheth, Ham, and Shem. There are a total of seventy different people groups listed. This is significant because the numbers seven and ten signified completeness. Seven multiplied by ten signified a large complete number. The number seven is used in a variety of ways in this passage.

In addition to the genealogy, there is a critical side note:

Gen 10:8-12

8 Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
NRSV

The literal meaning of the name Nimrod is "We shall rebel." Nimrod was a descendant of Ham through Cush. At the end of Chapter 9, we learn that Ham's brothers, Shem and Japheth, were blessed. Ham's youngest son Cannan was cursed, and no blessing was given to Ham's other sons. The curse was, in effect, upon Ham's entire line. Cannan was mentioned in the symbolic connection between Ham and Cannan as the youngest sons. Nimrod is among the cursed.

When verse nine talks about the "mighty hunter," it does not mention his deer-hunting abilities. It means Nimrod was a predatory conqueror. The phrase "before the Lord" is superlative to emphasize that so great was Nimrod's prowess that it could not escape the Lord's attention.

Where the rest of the genealogy is given in terms of established people groups, Nimrod's accomplishment is given in terms of the great cities he built on the plains of Shinar (modern-day Iraq.) These cities were not simply places of economic commerce. These cities were more like mystical temples. For instance, the name Babili, Babylonian for Babel, means "Gate of God." It was referred to also as the "seat of life."

Cain was cursed, went into the east to the land of Nod (wandering), and settled. (Moving east symbolized regression since the sun rose in the east and set in the west.) He started a family and a city to initiate his life apart from God. He sought to create an illusion reinforcing his delusion of autonomy and power. Likewise, Nimrod was cursed and migrated east to the plains of Shinar. He was the impetus behind creating the first great cities with their cultic life. He, too, was about creating illusions to reinforce his delusions but with even greater audacity. The Spirit of Cain was back.

[Index]

Starting Over

Gen 8:20-9:17

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.

22 As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night,

shall not cease."

1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life.

6 Whoever sheds the blood of a human,

by a human shall that person's blood be shed;

for in his own image

God made humankind.

7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it."

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." NRSV

So here we are. Back where we started in verse 1, "Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth." Then repeated in v. 7, "…be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it." God renews his original call for humanity to fill the earth. God states his provision for humanity again, although he includes meat consumption this time. The animals will fear humanity, and humans will rule over them.

The prohibition against eating blood symbolizes the divine mystery of life. Eating blood would show disrespect for life. Furthermore, God clarifies that there is to be a reckoning for anyone who takes another's life. It will be a life for a life. This has the double impact of emphasizing God's value of life, but it also stands against the destructive sevenfold vengeance. (i.e., Life for life versus seven lives for life.)

God also makes a covenant with Noah that he will never again destroy humanity "as long as the earth endures." God intends to abide with humanity. The rainbow was not created during the flood, but God declares it to symbolize his abiding faithfulness and love. Stars in the shape of a bow in the sky were a sign of war and the god's hostility in antiquity. But a bow facing away from the earth would have been considered a sign of reconciliation. God wants to disillusion humanity from the delusion that he is against them.

Recapping, God eliminated the evil folks from the earth, destroying their cities and cultures of defiance along with them. God promised to destroy humanity again. He reinstituted his plan for filling the earth with people he could lavish his love upon. He sent humanity out to fulfill this mission. He shortened the human life span to reduce the time evil people would have to perfect evil. He educated Noah and humanity about God's value on human life and effectively placed limits on killing.

Sounds good! What could go wrong?

[Index]

Cain's Cancer and Radical Therapy

The Genesis narrative is incomplete from the time of Cain up to Noah. What information is given is bizarre by our standards. Things like the "sons of God" married the "daughters of men" in Genesis 6:1-2 are written. Then there is a reference to the Nephilim, who "were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown," according to verse 4. I am convinced there is a SciFi Channel movie in this mix somewhere. No one really knows what these verses are about, but amid these X-Files-like passages are some important pieces to the narrative we have been following.

At the end of Chapter 4, we learn that Adam and Eve have another son named Seth, who has a son named Enosh. It says people began to "call upon the name of the Lord" in his day. What exactly would this mean? Some scholars suggest that God had always initiated the conversation up to this time. This passage indicated that humanity had matured to the point that they could initiate contact conversation with God. Whatever the case, something about the nature of the relationship changed and apparently for the better among Seth's descendants.

The flip side of this story is increasing violence. This catchy little ditty by Lamech is in Chapter 4:

"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold."
Gen 4:23-24 NRSV

There appears to be an escalating level of violence and destruction. Not only are the people not "filling the earth" as God commanded, but they are murdering each other with such cavalier indifference that it would make Al Qaeda blush. Certainly, this unchecked violence would eventually kill off or engulf the godliest folks. Genesis 6:11 says about Noah's time, "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence." Noah and his family, descendants of Seth, were the only godly people left. Righteous humanity was on the verge of extinction.

Another key verse is 6:3, where it is recorded that God will limit the life span of people to 120 years. The centuries-long life spans apparently allowed those who were evil to get really good at being evil. Shorten their days, and you limit the damage they can do and how evil they can become. The point is that the impending flood was not so much the act of a wrathful God as it was a radical intervention to prevent his precious creation from self-destructive extinction. God had not given up on his plan for humanity.

Two side notes. I know some of the thoughts reading this right now. "People living hundreds of years? Global flood? Come on!" Okay. But let us rewind one hundred years to describe any of a number of our present quantum physics discoveries and see how many of those would have generated the same response. The evidence for how people might have lived for centuries is not conclusive, but it is scientifically plausible.

As to the flood, the Bible says it covered the "earth." Only Moderns would read back into the passage the idea of a globe covered in water. For the ancients, the idea of the earth connoted "the place where humanity lives." If the Bible is accurate about humanity refusing to spread, they would still be concentrated in Mesopotamia. The entire region is believed to have completely flooded more than once in past eons.

I am an old earth creationist. My concern here is not to get bogged down in a debate about the accurate historicity of these events. I am reviewing these events as elements of a story being told in Scripture to point us to God's character and plan. And the story is about to take a familiar turn.

[Index]

Cain's New World

Gen 4:16-18

16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch.
NRSV

In addition to exile from God's presence, verse 16 tells us about two important facets of Cain's new circumstances. First, we are told that Cain "settled in the land of Nod." This is an oxymoron. Nod literally means "place of wandering." How does one settle in the land of wandering? It can't be done, but this is Cain's new mission.

Second, Genesis also locates Cain's new home as east of Eden. How do we commonly orient ourselves when you and I look at a map? We find a legend that tells us which way is north. Not so with ancient people. For the Jews and many other ancient cultures, everything was oriented toward the east. The east was where the sun rose. It was the place of beginning—the sunset in the west. The west was the place of completion and fulfillment. To be sent eastward (just as Adam and Eve were from the garden) symbolized regression. It was a descent into chaos.

So, Cain left the presence of God to settle in a land where he could not be settled, and he descended into chaos. The tiller who planted himself, and would not embrace God's mission to fill the earth, was cursed by losing his ability to be a tiller and being forced to wander. Cain was stripped of both his relationship with God and his illusion. So, what was Cain's response? Time for a new illusion.

Verse 17 says that Cain had a son, built a city, and named them Enoch. The name "Enoch" means "initiate." Cain was confronted with his mortality and the meaninglessness of his existence. One way to achieve a kind of immortality was to create a lineage that we would carry on his name and values. So, part of Cain's plan was to "initiate" life apart from God was to start a family. Is it possible that his idolatry of questing for immortality is part of what led to the debasement of women in ancient culture? Rather than living as the fully complementary beings God created in his image, did women become a means to the idolatry of immortality through the family? Was this the flower of the curse, "your desire shall be for your husband, and she rule over you?"

But Cain also built a city. The word in Hebrew means a "fortified encampment." The contrast to God's plan cannot be more striking. God created the earth with the intent that it be filled with humankind. They would be a race of beings in a loving relationship with God and participating in creation as overseers and co-creators with God. Instead, we have humanity holed up in a city, out of a relationship with God, and hiding behind defenses to protect a pathetic and deluded existence. The city in ancient times was the center of culture, and Genesis tells us that not only did Cain personally sin, but he manufactured an illusion (human culture) that would perpetuate his delusions and hide him from the absurdity that had become his life. Humanity went from glorious co-regents of creation to defiant, pathetic, and deluded fools.

Welcome to Cain's "brave" new world. Welcome to human existence.

[Index]

Cain's Journey Into Darkness

Gen 4:8-16

8 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field." And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" 10 And the LORD said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." 13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me." 15 Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.
NRSV

God left Cain with an option to repent or risk being consumed by his sinful delusions. Cain will not listen. Abel must surely have been an ever-present reminder to Cain of God's displeasure with him. So, Cain set to work creating his own reality. He would eliminate Abel and be left to pursue his delusion in peace.

Murder is always horrible, but some types of murder are more disturbing than others. In our day, the murder that seems to create the greatest shock and revulsion is spousal. It is the ultimate violation of what should be the utmost intimacy. Not so for ancient culture.

The father ruled households in Greco-Roman culture. Marriage was mainly a contractual arrangement to provide offspring to perpetuate the father's lineage. The primary relationship of genuine caring and equality was between siblings. Even married women gave their ultimate allegiance to their brothers' households. The most horrifying stories in Roman culture were of siblings at odds. We have our O. J. and Nicole Simpsons or Scott and Lacey Petersons. The Romans had epic tragedies about brothers like Romulus and Remus. The same would have been true for the ancients. Not only did Cain commit the first murder, but he murdered his brother, violating the most intimate of all relationships.

Unlike the sheepish admittance of his parents when they sinned, Cain becomes bold in his delusion. He believed he could even trick God with his lies and illusions. When God called him on it, did Cain repent? No. By implication, Cain's fear of being killed suggests that his conscience knew the just penalty for what he had done: Death. Remember that murder had never happened before. Did this awareness drive him to repentance? No. Instead, Cain complained about the severity of his punishment.

What did Cain find unbearable? Was it that he would be apart from God? No. Is it that he had killed his brother? No. God had told Cain to be about "filling the earth," but Cain instead put down roots. Cain created an illusion of control and comfort in defiance of God. God told Cain that his punishment for killing Abel was to be uprooted from his illusion and made a wanderer on the face of the earth. What is unbearable for Cain is that he has lost the safety and control of his illusions. It was not that he had lost God!

God places a mark on Cain to protect Cain, but do we see any remorse from Cain? Do we see any thanks for God's protection? None. Cain's sinful delusions have utterly blinded him to reality.

But Cain's delusion is not over yet.

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Cain's Choice

Genesis 4:1-7

1 Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD." 2 Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
NRSV

What was it that made God so displeased with Cain? The most common explanation is that Abel gave his firstlings while Cain brought an offering of fruit and grain, not necessarily first fruits. Therefore, God was displeased with the offering. This is a possibility, although it is not apparent from the text. But there may be another way of seeing this passage.

The only clear distinction we find between Cain and Abel is, "Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground." So why would this have any significance? Shepherds are nomadic, and tillers are settled. What is the one mission God had given to humanity?

God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." Gen 1:28 NRSV

Based on their lifestyles, which of these two brothers was more likely to move about the earth and expand the inhabited area? Is it possible that God was displeased with Cain because Cain's offering was symbolic of Cain's refusal to "fill the earth?" Instead, Cain put down roots (literally) and remained planted where he was. "If you do well…" God asks. Do well at what? Following the mission God gave to fill the earth.

Cain created an illusion of control, comfort, and self-reliance. He came to rely upon his own efforts to control his environment and not upon God's provisional care as he lived out God's mission. God disillusioned Cain. Cain was left to confront his delusion of human autonomy and selfishness. Was it Cain's failure to offer legitimate sacrifice, or was it the very nature of Cain's work? Either way, Cain was confronted with a choice. Cain could turn around from his delusion and enter an authentic relationship with God, or Cain could redouble his efforts to manufacture illusions that gave him comfort in his delusion.

But this is not just the stuff of Old Testament stories. It is the very existence of the Church today. Several millennia after Cain and Abel, God stepped into the world in a personal way. He told his followers to go to their hometowns, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth and fill the earth with his disciples.

Instead, we have decided to set down roots and plant crops that leave us comfortable and in control. We will not make the sacrifice God expects of us. Instead of expanding into our communities and the world, we have become angry and resist anything threatening our comforting illusions. We protect our delusions at all costs.

But God is disillusioning us to see his authenticity. As the institutions that have given our delusions illusionary support crumble around us, like Cain, we have a choice. And if you listen closely, in congregations all across the land, you will hear these words reverberate:

"Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."

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Grand Illusion

I was slowly getting around to dinner last night but eventually heated up something in the microwave. Then I clicked on the tube to watch something while I ate. With a couple of clicks, I stumbled upon the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet starring Leslie Nielson. Great movie! I think it was Nielson's second film. It was cutting edge for its day and still is quite entertaining (Although I keep half expecting Lt. Frank Drebin to inadvertently lean on a ray gun and blow up the planet or something.)

An evil invisible monster from Id is confronted in the movie. We only get a good look at him when he is caught in some kind of electrical current. The special effects are almost hokey by today's standards. Certainly not Star Wars or Lord of the Rings caliber. Still, I'll bet they were "swell" in their day.

What I remember as a kid were the IMAX adventures. I still go to see them today. Sitting in front of that enormous screen, you are right there in the fighter plane's cockpit, in the race car's driver's seat, or flying the spaceship to the moon. If you pull your eyes away from the picture long enough and look at others in the audience, you can see people lean hard in one direction to get the right body English as the car rounds the turn or push back in their seats as the rocket thrusts into space. The illusion is so big that it is overpowering. It is hard to watch and not enter into it.

But there is one thing I have noticed about IMAX productions. I have never seen one advertised about lawn mowing, sitting in rush hour traffic, or doing laundry. It makes sense, of course. We do that stuff every day. Why would we want to watch an illusion of that happening? We want illusions that touch our passions and dreams. Illusions that intoxicate. Illusions that remove us from our present reality and deliver us to some magical place.

So, it occurs to me that apart from good technical effects, an illusion must have at least two qualities. It must be big, … really big, …in your face can't look away big. And the illusion must touch some core desire so deeply that we will delude ourselves from looking at the authentic.

The serpent in the Garden understood this. He painted a grand illusion. God is a selfish ogre who begrudges you your rightful place as a god, "knowing good and evil." Just think. We could become like gods. And a delusion is born, fueled by the intoxicating idea of autonomy and power. It is the Satanic delusion.

Illusion calls us to delusion. Delusion requires illusions that reinforce our absurdities as authentic. We become pathetic fools. As Dick Keyes has noted, the great irony is that we have become less than human in seeking to become God. This is our present existence—life under a grand illusion.

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And God Created the Serpent

The first two chapters of Genesis paint a picture of a loving God creating human beings who he could lavish his love upon. The only prohibition is that they may not eat from the fruit of one tree in the garden. No one really knows the tree's significance except that it is the only tree they cannot eat from.

Enter the serpent. "Did God say you shall not eat from any tree in the garden?" The illusion is cast. He painted a false picture in Eve's mind that she had not previously seen. She rejects that picture, but even so, the question has become about what God has denied rather than what God has given. Eve seems to embellish God's instruction by saying that God told them they were not even to touch it. Is this the first delusion?

The serpent now sets up a delusion. "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Having successfully cast the illusion of God's stinginess, he now deludes Eve. "God was lying to her. God was merely trying to trick her into not taking what is rightfully hers." So now, based on this delusion about God's character, Eve sins. Adam goes right along with her. Their eyes are opened, and they see that they are deluded, not God. Their response? Hide.

God calls Adam out on the question of the fruit from the tree. Adam tries to delude God into believing it was Eve's fault: "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." Adam was helpless to resist? God turns to Eve, and she blames the serpent: "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." What was so tricky about not eating a piece of fruit? Author Os Guinness has suggested that there was yet one more inquiry. God asked the serpent if what Eve said was true. To which the serpent replied, "Yes, I did. And you created me!" The blame comes full circle back to God.

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The First Illusion

Illusion - something that deceives the senses or mind, for example, by appearing to exist when it does not or appearing to be one thing when it is, in fact, another.

Delusion – a false or mistaken belief or idea about something. psychology - a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially as a symptom of psychiatric disorder.

Gen 2:15-17

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
NRSV

Gen 3:1-14

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." 11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."
NRSV

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Will the Real Illusion Please Stand Up?

I gave my friend Dave a copy of one of my books about science and Genesis a while back. Last week we had lunch at our weekly hangout, Rumi's, a Sufi-themed Mid-Eastern cuisine Restaurant.

Dave told me how much he enjoyed the book. What struck him the most was the utter expansiveness of God in both time and space. He had not reflected before on how enormous God is and how seemingly insignificant we are. I grinned big. That was precisely the impact it had on me years ago.

When you think about the billions of years matter has existed and about a universe that is ever expanding, human beings are a notch below "next to nothing" and only slightly higher than nothing. The rumor is that this God of the universe stepped into our space and time continuum, became one of us, and allowed himself to be treated like scum to be in a relationship with us. That is insane! But that is the gospel. If the rumor is true, we are far from insignificant. Because the God of all creation values us, we are of inestimable worth. This would be the most amazing story ever told!

So, I ask you, is it true that we are of immense value to a powerful and passionate God? If so, do we feel we are among the most significant beings in the known universe? Do we see ourselves and others as being of inestimable value? I don't think we do. Sure, as a race, we occasionally talk a good line about being masters of our destinies. We elevate ourselves to heights of glory. But ever-present is our mortality and even our potential mortality as a species.

The final words of the last song from Pink Floyd's "Final Cut" album, a song about a man's last thoughts just as he is annihilated by a nuclear explosion at the end of the world, are "Finally, I understand the feelings of the few. Ashes and diamonds. Foe and friend. We were all equal in the end." Still, most of us, most of the time, cannot bring ourselves to live with the logical implications of what this means.

So, which is the illusion? If a cold, heartless universe is the truth, then why does every human culture ever known seem to hold out the hope of some enduring future or purpose? If the story of a passionate and powerful God is true, why does so little of our existence connect with such a reality? One is an illusion, and one is authentic. We need to be disillusioned.

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