(Originally Written April 23, 2008 in the Journal)
Lord, I feel drained and lonely. I have no joy, no hope and am struggling to maintain faith. Why would you join me to a woman who would do nothing but rip me apart? Are you not the all-good God? Are you not the merciful one?
Why do you allow me to suffer so? You know my struggles Lord. This prayer does not fall on deaf ears. You are the living God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob and of Moses. Am I not part of the Chosen now? Have I not been redeemed by the blood of Christ? Why then do I still suffer? Why are my cries not answered? How many tears must I shed? How much hurt must I feel?
But, you are the all-good God. You are my shepherd. You are my solace. In you alone I trust. You alone do I bow to worship. You alone I praise. I praise you in the good and the bad. I thank you for my struggle and my trials. I relish these as chances to grow closer to you. Lord take this pain away. Restore my marriage. Restore her to me and to you. But if I must suffer this I will do so gladly. Give me a little comfort and a little strength to make it through today. Hear my prayers.
Exodus 39
The book of exodus sets out the rules and regulations for the Israelites to remain ritually pure. God set these up to make the Israelites holy, to set them apart from all humanity. The holiness of the Israelites is a witness to the Glory and Holiness of God.
Leviticus
Chapter 1 - Holocaust offering instructions
Chapter 2 - Cereal offering instructions
Chapter 3 - Peace offering instructions
Chapter 4 - Sin offering instructions for the priests, the community, the princes and private persons
It is interesting that sin offerings are made for those who inadvertently sin.
Chapter 5 - Sin or unclean offerings are made for those who cannot afford animals.
In order to be forgiven, one must first confess.
Even if one sins inadvertently he is guilty and must make a sacrifice
Chapter 6 - Daily offerings explained
Holiness is an all encompassing, overarching commitment. The fire must be kept burning on the altar.
Chapter 7 - Guilt and sin offerings are similar
The priest who makes the sacrifice may keep the hide for himself and eat it in a sacred place.
The Israelites cannot eat any fat or blood. The blood and fat are sacrifices to the Lord.
Chapter 8 - Aaron and his sons are anointed.
"This is what the Lord orders you to do that the glory of the Lord may be revealed to you" (Leviticus 9:6, New American Bible).
Lord, what must I sacrifice to have your glory revealed to me? No question will be refused. No request is too great. Life and limb I offer you. Even her, whom I love more deeply than anything else in this world, I offer you to see your glory.
Chapter 10 - Aaron's son Nadab and Abihu are killed by the Lord for offering an unsacred offering.
Priests are responsible for themselves, but also for the people. They must be able to distinguish between clean and unclean, between sacred and profane. They must teach the people the Laws of the Lord. The priests eat the portion of the offering allotted to them to bear the guilt of the people and make atonement.
Chapter 11 - Clean and unclean foods
The people must be holy because the Lord is holy.
Chapter 12 - The uncleanness of child birth
Chapter 13 - The uncleanness of leprosy
Showing posts with label Exodus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exodus. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Brief Notes on Exodus 22-23
(Originally Written April 18, 2008 in the Journal)
Forgive me Father for I am sin. Teach me to love my wife as Christ loves the Church. Teach me to be upright and steadfast. Remove the blemishes from my soul. Strengthen me for the life you wish me to lead. Fill me with your love so that I may love as you love.
Notes on Exodus
Exodus 22:1-5 Laws concerning thieves and fire
Exodus 22:6-14 Laws concerning loans
Exodus 22:15-30 Societal Laws
Exodus 23:1 Do not repeat a false report
Exodus 23:1-9 These are moral and legal obligations
Exodus 23:10-19 Religious Purity Laws
Forgive me Father for I am sin. Teach me to love my wife as Christ loves the Church. Teach me to be upright and steadfast. Remove the blemishes from my soul. Strengthen me for the life you wish me to lead. Fill me with your love so that I may love as you love.
Notes on Exodus
Exodus 22:1-5 Laws concerning thieves and fire
Exodus 22:6-14 Laws concerning loans
Exodus 22:15-30 Societal Laws
Exodus 23:1 Do not repeat a false report
Exodus 23:1-9 These are moral and legal obligations
Exodus 23:10-19 Religious Purity Laws
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Brief Notes on Exodus 12-21
(Originally Written April 17, 2008 in the Journal)
Why do you test me so severely Lord? I feel as though I can struggle no further. This hurt, this pain is too much. Where is your easy yoke? But, I will praise you nonetheless and evermore.
There are 4 elements of Scripture:
1. Literal - What Happened
2. Allegorical - A Hidden Theological Meaning
3. Analagoical - Heavenly Scene
4. Moral/Tropological - Significance for Individual Behavior
Notes on Exodus:
Chapter 12
There will be no eating of leavened bread during Passover. The penalty for infractions is to be cut off from Israel.
Passover Regulations:
1. No foreigner may partake of it
2. Slaves may partake if they have been bought and circumcised.
3. You cannot take the flesh outside.
4. You cannot break the lamb's bones.
5. The whole community must partake.
6. If foreigners wish to participate they must be circumcised
Chapter 13
The first born is to be consecrated to God because he belongs to God.
Chapter 14
14:14 "The Lord himself will fight for you; you only have to keep still" (New American Bible).
Chapter 20: The Ten Commandments
1. You shall have no gods before me
2. You shall have no idols
3. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. You shall not kill
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's possessions
Do not make anything equal to God (Exodus 20:23)
Exodus 21:1-11 Laws concerning slavery
Exodus 21:12-32 Punitive laws concerning bodily harm
Exodus 21:33-37 Punitive laws concerning property
Why do you test me so severely Lord? I feel as though I can struggle no further. This hurt, this pain is too much. Where is your easy yoke? But, I will praise you nonetheless and evermore.
There are 4 elements of Scripture:
1. Literal - What Happened
2. Allegorical - A Hidden Theological Meaning
3. Analagoical - Heavenly Scene
4. Moral/Tropological - Significance for Individual Behavior
Notes on Exodus:
Chapter 12
There will be no eating of leavened bread during Passover. The penalty for infractions is to be cut off from Israel.
Passover Regulations:
1. No foreigner may partake of it
2. Slaves may partake if they have been bought and circumcised.
3. You cannot take the flesh outside.
4. You cannot break the lamb's bones.
5. The whole community must partake.
6. If foreigners wish to participate they must be circumcised
Chapter 13
The first born is to be consecrated to God because he belongs to God.
Chapter 14
14:14 "The Lord himself will fight for you; you only have to keep still" (New American Bible).
Chapter 20: The Ten Commandments
1. You shall have no gods before me
2. You shall have no idols
3. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. You shall not kill
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's possessions
Do not make anything equal to God (Exodus 20:23)
Exodus 21:1-11 Laws concerning slavery
Exodus 21:12-32 Punitive laws concerning bodily harm
Exodus 21:33-37 Punitive laws concerning property
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Framework on abortion discussion
(Originally Written on March 21, 2006 in 3 Subject)
Contemporary Issues of Philosophy
Topic 7: Abortion
Introduction: The psychology of language
Pro-Choice:
1. Strong
-No restrictions
-an absolute right to have an abortion
2. Weak
-restrictions on pregnancy stage
-restrictions on motive
-restrictions on consent
-restrictions on notification
Pro-Life
1. Strong
-no exceptions
-always morally wrong to have an abortion
2. Weak
-exceptions involving life of the mother
-exceptions involving rape
-exceptions involving incest
Legal Background of Abortion
-Roe v. Wade
-Webster v. Reproductive Services
-Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Biblical Overview
-Exodus 21: 10 Commandments
-Genesis 4
-Job 3:3
-Isaiah
-Psalms
-Luke
Contemporary Issues of Philosophy
Topic 7: Abortion
Introduction: The psychology of language
Pro-Choice:
1. Strong
-No restrictions
-an absolute right to have an abortion
2. Weak
-restrictions on pregnancy stage
-restrictions on motive
-restrictions on consent
-restrictions on notification
Pro-Life
1. Strong
-no exceptions
-always morally wrong to have an abortion
2. Weak
-exceptions involving life of the mother
-exceptions involving rape
-exceptions involving incest
Legal Background of Abortion
-Roe v. Wade
-Webster v. Reproductive Services
-Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Biblical Overview
-Exodus 21: 10 Commandments
-Genesis 4
-Job 3:3
-Isaiah
-Psalms
-Luke
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Book Notes on the Biblical Canon & Interpretation
(Originally written January 5, 2006 in Notebook 20)
Book Notes
The Promise and The Blessing
Michael Harbin
- There are many ways of studying the Bible, this book will approach it from its historical context
- This book will help us to understand the books of the Bible as the original readers would have
- There are two basic approaches to understanding the Bible
1) The Traditional View
2) The Modern View
- The traditional view is a more conservative view and has been the widely accepted view until recent times
- The traditional view accepts the Bible on face-value and believes it to be historically accurate
- The Modern View is a more liberal view of the Bible that assumes it to be mythical until there is corroborating evidence
-The Modern view began to gain ground in the 1800's especially after Julius Wellhaven produced a theory that the Pentateuch was written much later than previously assumed
- Willhausen's theory (The Documentary Hypothesis) argues that God is limited and could not (or at least would not) perform miracles, or interfere with he space-time history
- The Traditional View holds that God will on occasion and has intervened in the time-space history
- Miracles cannot be proved or disproved by scientific research. Science can show us what is normal and by nature miracles are unnatural. This makes them out of the scope of science
- Archaeology constantly shatters the modern view's beliefs and presuppositions
- Archeology does not prove the Bible
- Archeology has limitations and problems
- One problem is that of historical loss. This occurs when items are destroyed either by disaster, humans or time
- Another problem is that of limited excavation. This occurs when archeologists cannot excavate areas because of politics, weather, funding or other restrictions
- Another problem is that of non-written sources. This problem occurs when we find artifacts that aren't written ones, like tools or pottery. These items sometimes cannot be figured out what exactly they were used for and that sometimes we can only deduce small amounts of information from them
- Another problem is that of dating. This is when artifacts are attempted to be dated. There is no exact way of being 100% accurate all of the time
- Another problem is the problem of history. Sometimes people in history were not thought of as important until after the fact.
- History is defined as "the recording of eyewitness accounts in written form"
- History begins with writing, so any culture without writing is prehistoric by nature
- History began no earlier than 3200-3100 B.C. in Sumer at the mouth of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers.
- All writing began as pictographs:
Mesopotamia: Cuneiform
Egypt: Hieroglyphics
- All writing began as financial records
- Originally God intended to speak to Israel himself the books of Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus but after God spoke the 10 commandments to them they were frightened and asked Moses to tell them what God said
- Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus became the first canon (and probably Job)
- The canon is a group of writings regarded as authentic and used in the Bible
- The canon as we have it today gradually developed
- The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (except for three passages in Aramaic)
- The Old Testament was translated into their everyday languages after the exile to Babylon
- The most important Greek translation is the Septuagint
- The Early New Testament books fell into two basic categories:
1) Eyewitness accounts of the Messiah (the Gospels)
2) Letters from key witnesses to believers (the Epistles)
- Numbers and Deuteronomy were added to the Old Testament Canon 40 years after the original canon
- To be in the canon a book must be inspired by God. It must have two roles of the Holy Spirit:
1) Inspiring the writer
2) Verifying the inspiration to the community
- Christianity began with the assumption that the Jewish canon was authoritative
- The concept of the Messiah comes from the Jewish canon
- The New Testament was primarily written to groups of God's people throughout the Roman Empire
Review Questions
1) The traditional view of how the Bible was written is that it was written as a historically accurate account of events
2) The traditional view accepts the Bible at "face-value" and believes in its miraculous events
2) The Modern view looks at the Bible with skepticism and does not accept it until other evidence is produced to verify it.
3) The canon is the books believed to be inspired and authoritative. It's important because it makes up the Bible
4) The epistles were written before the Gospels because the apostles felt that a written account of Jesus as the Messiah was not needed because Christ's return was just around the corner.
5) It took so long for a New Testament canon to be agreed on because there were so many letters to be found and decided on.
6) The significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls is that it gave use written documentation of the Bible 1,000 years older than our previous oldest copies. With that we could compare the accuracy of the copying process.
Book Notes
The Promise and The Blessing
Michael Harbin
- There are many ways of studying the Bible, this book will approach it from its historical context
- This book will help us to understand the books of the Bible as the original readers would have
- There are two basic approaches to understanding the Bible
1) The Traditional View
2) The Modern View
- The traditional view is a more conservative view and has been the widely accepted view until recent times
- The traditional view accepts the Bible on face-value and believes it to be historically accurate
- The Modern View is a more liberal view of the Bible that assumes it to be mythical until there is corroborating evidence
-The Modern view began to gain ground in the 1800's especially after Julius Wellhaven produced a theory that the Pentateuch was written much later than previously assumed
- Willhausen's theory (The Documentary Hypothesis) argues that God is limited and could not (or at least would not) perform miracles, or interfere with he space-time history
- The Traditional View holds that God will on occasion and has intervened in the time-space history
- Miracles cannot be proved or disproved by scientific research. Science can show us what is normal and by nature miracles are unnatural. This makes them out of the scope of science
- Archaeology constantly shatters the modern view's beliefs and presuppositions
- Archeology does not prove the Bible
- Archeology has limitations and problems
- One problem is that of historical loss. This occurs when items are destroyed either by disaster, humans or time
- Another problem is that of limited excavation. This occurs when archeologists cannot excavate areas because of politics, weather, funding or other restrictions
- Another problem is that of non-written sources. This problem occurs when we find artifacts that aren't written ones, like tools or pottery. These items sometimes cannot be figured out what exactly they were used for and that sometimes we can only deduce small amounts of information from them
- Another problem is that of dating. This is when artifacts are attempted to be dated. There is no exact way of being 100% accurate all of the time
- Another problem is the problem of history. Sometimes people in history were not thought of as important until after the fact.
- History is defined as "the recording of eyewitness accounts in written form"
- History begins with writing, so any culture without writing is prehistoric by nature
- History began no earlier than 3200-3100 B.C. in Sumer at the mouth of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers.
- All writing began as pictographs:
Mesopotamia: Cuneiform
Egypt: Hieroglyphics
- All writing began as financial records
- Originally God intended to speak to Israel himself the books of Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus but after God spoke the 10 commandments to them they were frightened and asked Moses to tell them what God said
- Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus became the first canon (and probably Job)
- The canon is a group of writings regarded as authentic and used in the Bible
- The canon as we have it today gradually developed
- The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (except for three passages in Aramaic)
- The Old Testament was translated into their everyday languages after the exile to Babylon
- The most important Greek translation is the Septuagint
- The Early New Testament books fell into two basic categories:
1) Eyewitness accounts of the Messiah (the Gospels)
2) Letters from key witnesses to believers (the Epistles)
- Numbers and Deuteronomy were added to the Old Testament Canon 40 years after the original canon
- To be in the canon a book must be inspired by God. It must have two roles of the Holy Spirit:
1) Inspiring the writer
2) Verifying the inspiration to the community
- Christianity began with the assumption that the Jewish canon was authoritative
- The concept of the Messiah comes from the Jewish canon
- The New Testament was primarily written to groups of God's people throughout the Roman Empire
Review Questions
1) The traditional view of how the Bible was written is that it was written as a historically accurate account of events
2) The traditional view accepts the Bible at "face-value" and believes in its miraculous events
2) The Modern view looks at the Bible with skepticism and does not accept it until other evidence is produced to verify it.
3) The canon is the books believed to be inspired and authoritative. It's important because it makes up the Bible
4) The epistles were written before the Gospels because the apostles felt that a written account of Jesus as the Messiah was not needed because Christ's return was just around the corner.
5) It took so long for a New Testament canon to be agreed on because there were so many letters to be found and decided on.
6) The significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls is that it gave use written documentation of the Bible 1,000 years older than our previous oldest copies. With that we could compare the accuracy of the copying process.
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Some Cultural Context for the New Testament
(Originally written January 3, 2006 in Notebook 20)
Class Notes
Part I, the Old Testament
- Covered thousands of years of history
Abraham (Genesis 12, ca. 2165 BC)
Pentateuch (ca. 1400 BC)
Malachi (ca. 430 BC)
430 BC - AD 33 "Intertestemental History"
(The 400 Silent Years)
New Testament
AD 33 - Jesus
Gospels AD 55-90
When was the Pentateuch written?
- 4th year of Solomon's reign - 966 BC
- Date of the Exodus - 1446 BC
- Israel Wandered 40 years (1446 - 1406 BC)
It is likely that Moses wrote the Pentateuch during the wandering.
Part II of the Bible
Covered less than 100 years and is a third the length of the Old Testament
When was Jesus born?
- Winter of 5/4 BC (late 5 or early 4)
Christ died on April 13, AD 33.
A 6th century monk miscalculated the year of Jesus' birth when setting up the system of dating B.C. and A.D.
The Old Testament is called the Hebrew Bible or the Tanak by the Jews.
Tank is an acronym:
Torah (Law or Instruction)
Neviim (the Prophets)
Kethuvim (the Writings)
Protestant Bible: 66 books
- 39 from the Hebrew Bible
- 27 from the Greek New Testament
Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox churches include additional books: The Apocrypha.
The New Testament stands for the New Covenant, contrasted with the Old Covenant God made with the Israelites at Sinai (Exodus 19). Under this covenant, God forgave the sins of individuals provisionally via animal sacrifices.
The New Testament was written in Greek about A.D. 45-95
- Yet Jesus' native language was Aramaic.
3 Stages of Gospel Composition:
1) Jesus speaks in Aramaic
2) Jewish Christians followers had oral traditions
- Hebrew Jews
- Hellenistic Jews
3) Luke, writing in Greek to gentiles in Rome
Outline of the New Testament
1) History - 4 Gospels & Acts
2) Epistles - Pauline (Journey & Prison) or General
3) Visions - Revelation
Why Study the New Testament? (See Handout 1)
"The relative importance of the document will dictate the care with which it is examined" - Philip Yancy
Historical reason - to understand where the Christian faith came from
Cultural reason - The New Testament has permeated Western Civilization
Theological Reason - inspired account of Jesus' redemptive mission in the world, standard for faith and practice
Devotional Reason - Holy Spirit uses it to help you grow closer to the Lord
Socio-Cultural Setting of the New Testament
1st Century Social Setting
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God - even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ"
- Jews
- Greeks
- Romans
Jews
- Religious, spiritual people: concerned with their relationships with God
- Believed that God had chosen Israel and that all nations would be blessed through Israel
- 1st century Jews were looking a politically powerful Messiah
- Individual and solitary persons, a minority
Greeks
- Philosophers and intellectuals - speculative and reflective
- Aesthetic - loved beauty, spoke of virtue, admired eloquence
- Original
- Conceited & clever
Romans
- Practical, not speculative or spiritual
- Orderly: excellent in legislation and administration
- A mimic: copied Greek culture, not visionary
- Coarse and cold blooded
- The Romans created an amazing system
A Jewish Palestinian family was larger than the Greco-Roman family (see Psalms 127:3-5)
Joseph & Mary's Betrothal
- Bride money (mohar) affected the Jewish betrothal and marriage customs. The groom paid the family for the girls' hand.
What is an "inn"?
- a spare room in an apartment complex.
Class Notes
Part I, the Old Testament
- Covered thousands of years of history
Abraham (Genesis 12, ca. 2165 BC)
Pentateuch (ca. 1400 BC)
Malachi (ca. 430 BC)
430 BC - AD 33 "Intertestemental History"
(The 400 Silent Years)
New Testament
AD 33 - Jesus
Gospels AD 55-90
When was the Pentateuch written?
- 4th year of Solomon's reign - 966 BC
- Date of the Exodus - 1446 BC
- Israel Wandered 40 years (1446 - 1406 BC)
It is likely that Moses wrote the Pentateuch during the wandering.
Part II of the Bible
Covered less than 100 years and is a third the length of the Old Testament
When was Jesus born?
- Winter of 5/4 BC (late 5 or early 4)
Christ died on April 13, AD 33.
A 6th century monk miscalculated the year of Jesus' birth when setting up the system of dating B.C. and A.D.
The Old Testament is called the Hebrew Bible or the Tanak by the Jews.
Tank is an acronym:
Torah (Law or Instruction)
Neviim (the Prophets)
Kethuvim (the Writings)
Protestant Bible: 66 books
- 39 from the Hebrew Bible
- 27 from the Greek New Testament
Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox churches include additional books: The Apocrypha.
The New Testament stands for the New Covenant, contrasted with the Old Covenant God made with the Israelites at Sinai (Exodus 19). Under this covenant, God forgave the sins of individuals provisionally via animal sacrifices.
The New Testament was written in Greek about A.D. 45-95
- Yet Jesus' native language was Aramaic.
3 Stages of Gospel Composition:
1) Jesus speaks in Aramaic
2) Jewish Christians followers had oral traditions
- Hebrew Jews
- Hellenistic Jews
3) Luke, writing in Greek to gentiles in Rome
Outline of the New Testament
1) History - 4 Gospels & Acts
2) Epistles - Pauline (Journey & Prison) or General
3) Visions - Revelation
Why Study the New Testament? (See Handout 1)
"The relative importance of the document will dictate the care with which it is examined" - Philip Yancy
Historical reason - to understand where the Christian faith came from
Cultural reason - The New Testament has permeated Western Civilization
Theological Reason - inspired account of Jesus' redemptive mission in the world, standard for faith and practice
Devotional Reason - Holy Spirit uses it to help you grow closer to the Lord
Socio-Cultural Setting of the New Testament
1st Century Social Setting
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God - even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ"
- Jews
- Greeks
- Romans
Jews
- Religious, spiritual people: concerned with their relationships with God
- Believed that God had chosen Israel and that all nations would be blessed through Israel
- 1st century Jews were looking a politically powerful Messiah
- Individual and solitary persons, a minority
Greeks
- Philosophers and intellectuals - speculative and reflective
- Aesthetic - loved beauty, spoke of virtue, admired eloquence
- Original
- Conceited & clever
Romans
- Practical, not speculative or spiritual
- Orderly: excellent in legislation and administration
- A mimic: copied Greek culture, not visionary
- Coarse and cold blooded
- The Romans created an amazing system
A Jewish Palestinian family was larger than the Greco-Roman family (see Psalms 127:3-5)
Joseph & Mary's Betrothal
- Bride money (mohar) affected the Jewish betrothal and marriage customs. The groom paid the family for the girls' hand.
What is an "inn"?
- a spare room in an apartment complex.
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