Jesus, sharing the “Bread of Life” at Emmaus – as discussed in the Gospel for August 9…

Welcome to “read the Bible – expand your mind:”

For more on expanding your mind and horizons, see the Introduction.

The theme?  Taking the Bible literally is a good place to start.  But to be all you can be  –  on this earthly pilgrimage  –  you need to explore “the mystical side of Bible reading.*”

That’s what this blog is about.  Exploring that mystical side of the Bible.

Or see Some basics, on the Three Great Promises of Jesus:  1) He’ll accept anyone who comes to Him;  2) He wants us to live abundantly; and  3) He wants us do greater miracles than He did.

In the meantime:

There’s more on the Bible readings for August 9 below.  But first, here’s an update:

I talked about David and Bathsheba – and how they “met” – in the readings for July 26.  She was married at the time – to Uriah the Hittite – when David secretly watched her taking a bath “in the altogether.”  To make a long story short, he got her pregnant.

Then he tried to cover it up by bringing Uriah back from the battle-front and inviting him to sleep with Bathsheba.  (So Uriah would think the baby was his.)  When all that didn’t work, David basically had Uriah killed in battle, but managed to make it look like an accident.

In the OT reading for August 3, the “stuff hit the fan.”  (See 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a.)  First, Bathsheba heard that Uriah had been killed in battle, and not much later she became David’s wife and “bore him a son.”  But God wasn’t too happy about it, and so sent His prophet Nathan.

Nathan told David a story about a “little ewe lamb,” and how it got stolen by some “fat cat” (as illustrated at right).  But Nathan didn’t name the Fat cat.  Then David got all bent out of shape and said the man deserved to die.  That’s when Nathan told David, “You are the Fat cat!”  (A loose translation.)   Nathan then described what would happen next.

First, “the sword shall never depart from your house.”  That meant David would undergo nothing but trouble for the rest of his life.  Also, God said (through Nathan), “I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives,” in public.  (All of which came to pass, by the way.)  The August 3 reading ended with David confessing: “I have sinned against the LORD.”

And incidentally, the psalm for August 3 was Psalm 51:1-13.  As noted in Readings for July 26, David wrote it after – and because of – this incident involving Bathsheba and Uriah.  In turn Psalm 51 is widely recognized as “one of the best-known and most often read penitential texts” in the Bible:  “David threw himself on the mercy of God after committing adultery and murder…  His two-fold repentance provides a model that we should follow.”

(Although the better course would be not to do what David did in the first place…)

Moving right along, that brings us to the Bible readings for Sunday, August 9.  (See Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 14.)  The Old Testament reading – 2d Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 – tells about the death of Absalom, David’s third and favorite son.

Unfortunately, the Lectionary readings went from the beginning of Chapter 12 to the beginning of Chapter 18 in the Second Book of Samuel.  In doing so they skipped over a lot of juicy stuff, like incest, rape and murder.  Basically, David’s oldest son raped his half-sister, who happened to be the full sister of Absalom.  Absalom was David’s third and favorite son.  But in the course of some revenge killings and other mayhem, Absalom ended up leading a revolt against David – his father – and ultimately forcing him to flee the capital, Jerusalem:

After [Absalom’s] full sister Tamar was raped by Amnon, their half-brother and David’s eldest son, Absalom waited two years and avenged her by sending his servants to murder Amnon at a feast after he was drunk…  (2 Samuel 13).

To go over some of the other skipped materal, 2d Samuel 15 tells about the beginning of Absalom’s revolt.  And among other things, 2d Samuel 16 tells about Absalom taking over David’s palace and “sleeping with” his concubines.”

This fulfilled Nathan’s prophecy: “they pitched a tent for Absalom on the [palace] roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.” ( 2 Samuel 16:22.)

But Absalom was eventually killed in battle, despite David’s orders that he not be harmed.  The death of Absalom is shown at left, courtesy of Absalom – Wikipedia.  This happened at the battle “in the Wood of Ephraim,” as father and son struggled for supremacy over Israel.  But again, despite his son’s revolting against him, David ordered his troops to “deal gently with the young man Absalom.”  (The troops were led by the same  Joab who carried out David’s orders to have Uriah put out front in battle, “where the fighting is fiercest.  Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”  2d Samuel 11:15.)

So, here’s what happened after the battle started turning against Absalom:

Absalom happened to meet the servants of David…  [He] was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak.  His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.  And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him, and killed him.

Naturally David’s troopers thought Absalom’s death was good news, but when he heard about it, David broke down and wept: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!  Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”  (2 Samuel 18:33.)  See also O Absalom – My Son, My Son! : Christian Courier, for a deeper analysis.

All of which brings us up to speed for the Old Testament Bible readings leading up to August 9.  And incidentally, the psalm reading is Psalm 130, discussed in Oscar Wilde and Psalm 130.

The New Testament reading – Ephesians 4:25-5:2 – is part of Paul’s set of instructions about ordinary life and different relationships.  One of the best-known passages is Ephesians 4:26, “do not let the sun go down on your anger.”  (As shown at right.)  For further analysis see Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger – FaithGateway.

And finally, the Gospel for August 9 is John 6:35, 41-51, which includes the Bread of Life Discourse.  The reading begins with Jesus saying “to the people, ‘I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'”

Unfortunately, this selected reading skips over what I consider the most important passage in the Bible.  That’s John 6:37, where Jesus promises He will never turn away anyone who comes to Him.  (See also Some basics.)   The skipped-over parts include Jesus saying He came down from Heaven to do the job God sent Him to do, including “my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

So anyway, the reading picks up where people start complaining, for reasons including that they knew Jesus.  “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How can he now say, `I have come down from heaven?'”  Nevertheless, Jesus continues:  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats of this bread will live forever:”

In the Christological context, the use of the Bread of Life title is similar to the Light of the World title in John 8:12 where Jesus states: “I am the light of the world: he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  These assertions build on the Christological theme of John 5:26 where Jesus claims to possess life just as the Father does and provide it to those who follow him.

And part of that “light of life” or “bread of life” approach is to know how to process anger and/or misunderstandings.  As discussed in FaithGateway, ” One approach you might want to try is reading Proverbs 14:29 out loud three times (or ten, if necessary):  ‘People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.'”

Jesus – the Light of the World…

The upper image is courtesy of  Road to Emmaus appearance – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  (In the “Gallery of Art” at the bottom of the article, under Abraham Bloemaert.)  See also File: Abraham Bloemaert – The Emmaus Disciples.  Bloemaert (1566-1651) was a Dutch painter, printmaker, etcher and engraver.  He was a “Haarlem Mannerist,” starting around 585, but changed styles at the turn of the century (1600). He specialized in history subjects and also taught.  (Training most of the “Utrecht Caravaggisti.”)  He did Emmaus Disciples in 1622.

Re:  “all that you can be.”  See Slogans of the United States Army – Wikipedia, re: the recruiting slogan from 1980 to 2001. The image at left is courtesy of http://www.toywonders.com/productcart/pc/catalog/aw30.jpg.

*  Re: “mystical.”  As originally used, the term mysticism “referred to the Biblical liturgical, spiritual, and contemplative dimensions of early and medieval Christianity.”  See Mysticism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and also the post On originalism.  See also On the Bible and mysticism.

The “fat cat” image is courtesy of Fat cat (term) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The lower image is courtesy of Light of the World – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The caption:  “Detail on stained glass depicting Jesus: I am the light of the world, Bantry, Ireland.”

*   *   *   *

Wednesday, April 29, 2015 –  I last reviewed a full set of Sunday readings on March 8. That post – The “Big Ten” and Jesus with a whip – included readings on the Ten Commandments and “Jesus cleansing the temple, after arming Himself with a whip of cords.”

The readings for next Sunday  –  that is, for May 3, 2015  –  are: Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 22:24-30, 1 John 4:7-21, and John 15:1-8.  Or see Fifth Sunday of Easter. Highlights include the first reading – Acts of the Apostles – telling the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. That story is illustrated at left by the painting, The Baptism of the Eunuch, by Rembrandt:

Philip the Evangelist was told by an angel to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and there he met the Ethiopian eunuch…    The eunuch was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah, and had come to Isaiah 53:7-8.  Philip asked the Ethiopian, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  He said[,] “How can I understand unless I have a teacher to teach me?”  …Philip told him the Gospel of Jesus, and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized.  They went down into some water and Philip baptized him.

Wikipedia noted that as a eunuch the Ethiopian couldn’t be part of the church community. That’s from Deuteronomy 23:1:  “No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.”  (In the NIV.  The King James Version – the one God uses – puts it more delicately:  “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.“)

There’s even speculation that not only was the man “born a eunuch,” but also that he was gay. See The Ethiopian Eunuch – There Is A Good Possibility He Was A Gay Man, which added that if the man was born a eunuch, he could be admitted to the church community, according to Jeremiah. That is, a “physically intact, born eunuch, could enter the congregation of Israel,” according to the “Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yebamoth, Folio 81a,”  and Jeremiah 34:19.

Be that as it may…  The point of Acts 8:26-40 is that God’s Love is Universal, which is also the main lesson of the Book of Jonah. See Jonah and the bra-burners:

Clearly, the Book of Jonah … is the product of that school of Jewish thought which was universalist and which opposed the nationalist view…  It is the universality of God and the attribute of divine mercy that are the lessons of Jonah.  Those who think of the book as nothing more than the story of a man and a whale miss the whole point. (E.A.)

In plain words, Jonah ain’t about no stinkin’ whale! (The whale was a sideshow.) Turning to the Gospel for this day, in John 15:1-8 Jesus described Himself as The True Vine, “an allegory or parable given by Jesus in the New Testament found only in the Gospel of John:”

The Old Testament passages which use this symbol appear to regard Israel as faithless to Yahweh and/or the object of severe punishment. Ezekiel 15:1–8 in particular talks about the worthlessness of wood from a vine (in relation to disobedient Judah).  A branch cut from a vine is worthless except to be burned as fuel.  This appears to fit more with the statements about the disciples than with Jesus’ description of himself as the vine.

See Wikipedia, which included some “numerous Old Testament passages which refer to Israel as a vine.” (With the image at right, an “Icon of Christ as the true Vine.”) For example, Psalm 80:8 said of God, “You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.”  (Referring to the Exodus from Egypt and into the “land of milk and honey.”)

Consider also John 15:6, where Jesus said, “Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”  He was apparently referring to Psalm 80:16. That passage – in the NIV – referred to the same vine as Psalm 80:8, “Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.“

Which just goes to show that “Jesus knew and quoted the psalms frequently (and so should we).”  See for example, On the Psalms up to September 21.

But Jesus also knew the old prophets as well. For example, the first part of Isaiah 5 (verses 1 through 7), is commonly referred to as his “Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard,” and so Jesus seemed to be referring back to that metaphor as well. 

And see Jeremiah 2:21, in which God said (in the NIV), “I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock.  How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?”  And see also Hosea 10:1   – and also verse 2  –  read, in the GOD’S WORD® Translation:

The people of Israel are like vines that used to produce fruit.  The more fruit they produced, the more altars they built.  The more their land produced, the more stone markers they set up [to honor other gods].   They are hypocrites.  Now they must take their punishment.  God will tear down their altars and destroy their stone markers.  (E.A.)

(For more on this prophet, see On Hosea and the prostitute, which noted in passing that Hosea 8:7 is the source of the well-known phrase to reap the whirlwind, as derived in turn “from the proverbial phrase ‘They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.’”  That post included the image at left, with the caption:  “But no, not that Gomer…”  (Gomer was Hosea’s wife.))

And finally, see What did Jesus mean … “I am the True Vine?”  It noted first that this was the “last of seven I am declarations of Jesus recorded only in John’s Gospel.”  (In all seven – found only in John’s Gospel  – Jesus “combines I AM with tremendous metaphors which express His saving relationship toward the world.”  See I am for the full list.)   Then came this:

He said that no branch can even live, let alone produce leaves and fruit, by itself.  Cut off from the trunk, a branch is dead.  Just as a vine’s branches rely on being connected to the trunk from which they receive their energy to bear fruit, Jesus’ disciples depend on being connected to Him for their spiritual life and the ability to serve Him effectively.

All of which goes to show first that God’s love is universal, and second that we should try to imitate that all-encompassing love.  Or as Jesus aptly summarized the entire Bible:

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ said:  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it:  you shall love your neighbor as yourself.   On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

That’s from Matthew 22, verses 37-40, emphasis added.  See also On “what a drag it is,” which referred to this “‘Cliff’s-Note’ summary given by Jesus.”

In plain words, our goal in life should be to “live in full communion,” with both God and even our most obnoxious neighbor.  (And be good stewards of nature besides…)

*   *   *   *

“Earth Day Flag created by John McConnell…”

*   *   *   *

Re: Jeremiah 34:19. Part of a passage where Jeremiah warned of an apparent upcoming judgment:

And those who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make like^[c] the calf when they cut it in two and passed between its parts: ¹⁹ the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf ²⁰ shall be handed over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives. Their corpses shall become food for the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth. (E.A.)

The “between the parts of the calf” referred back to Genesis 15, regarding God making a covenant with Abraham:  “Then [God] said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.’ ⁸  But he said, ‘O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ ⁹  He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ ¹⁰  He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other…”  (The “cutting” ceremony effectively sealed the contract.)

The lower image is courtesy of Earth Day – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  See also Remembering the Purpose of Earth Day  –  which was yesterday, April 28  –  and also Pope Francis Urges All People to Protect the Earth On 45th Anniversary of Earth Day. For a contrasting take on the “politics” of Pope Francis,” see On the “Gospel of Marx.”

*   *   *   *

St. Thomas by Peter Paul Rubens…

Last week’s post was on Easter Season – AND BEYOND.  This post discusses Doubting Thomases, including the “mother of all” such skeptics.  See Thomas the Apostle – Wikipedia.

The Gospel-reading for Sunday, April 12, discusses the original Doubting Thomas.  See Second Sunday of Easter and/or John 20:19-31.  But first a word about the painting by Rubens, above:

Around 1612 Rubens made a series of portraits of the apostles, in commission of the duke of Lerma.  All paintings show an attribute to identify the apostle.  Thomas holds a spear, the weapon that supposedly killed him and made him a martyr.

(See Peter Paul Rubens: St Thomas – Art and the Bible.  See also Acts of Thomas, written “as late as c. 200.”)  Wikipedia noted the tradition that Thomas sailed to India in the year 52 AD, to spread the Christian faith, and included the “spear” details of his martydom:

According to tradition, St. Thomas was killed in 72 AD[, possibly] at Mylapore near Chennai in India…  This is the earliest known record of his martyrdom..   Some Patristic literature state[s] that St. Thomas died a martyr, in east of Persia or in North India by the wounds of the four spears pierced into his body by the local soldiers.

As also noted last week, even to this day many people still don’t believe in the miraculous healing power of Jesus, let alone His resurrection from the dead.  (Or as Isaac Asimov put it, to such people “the tale of the resurrection must be put down to legend.”)  But Asimov also noted that if the story had ended with the burial of Jesus – without His Resurrection – it’s highly unlikely that the Christian faith would have grown over the centuries as it did:

…even if we take the rationalist view that there was no resurrection in reality, it cannot be denied that there was one in the belief of the disciples and, eventually, of hundreds of millions of men – and that made all the difference. (E.A.)

In other words, if it hadn’t been for the millions upon millions of people who came to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, “the history of the world would be ‘enormously different.'”  See On Easter Season, which included the image at left.  And there are of course some who would say the history of the world would have been better without the spread of the Christian faith.

Before addressing that issue, it can’t be denied that there are many examples – even today – of some ostensible followers of Jesus of whom it could be said, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’”  See Romans 2:24 (referring Isaiah 52:5).

And there’s also the key difference between “skeptical” and “cynical.”  The difference is that being skeptical means “having reservations,” while the “main meaning of cynical is ‘believing the worst of people.”  (Or, being “distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.”)  On the other hand, the Bible itself tells us to approach the Faith with the proper sense of “reservation:”

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

See 1st John 4:1, emphasis added.  All of which adds up to this:  It’s impossible to give a comprehensive answer to such Doubting Thomases in one post.  But the best short answer might be that – taken as a whole – the Faith has led us in the direction of “believing the best of people.”  (Or at least not being cynical so much, which is definitely a drag if not a bummer…)

That is, even some atheists admit that – taken as a whole – Christianity has had a positive influence on history.  See Christianity’s Positive Contributions: An Atheist Confession:

Christianity is far more than just pie in the sky in the sweet bye and bye.  Wherever Christian missionaries and workers have gone, there has been tremendous work in social reform.  The Christian Gospel is not just about getting souls into heaven, but bettering conditions on planet earth as well.

Or just you could just Google “Christianity positive influence history.”

For other answers to such skeptics, see Mike Mooney’s post, Why I’d Still Believe In God Even if the Bible was a Fairytale.  Or you could check out The True Test of Faith, noted above.

All of which brings us back to “the original Doubting Thomas.”

As Wikipedia noted, he was “informally called doubting Thomas because he doubted Jesus’ resurrection.”  (I.e., when he first heard about it, as told “in the Gospel of John.”)  But see Thomas the Apostle, which said if “Thomas was pessimistic, he was also sturdily loyal.”)

But Thomas’s original doubt was followed – a week later – by a confession of faith, “My Lord and my God,” on seeing Jesus’ wounded body.  As noted in St. Thomas … AmericanCatholic.org:

Poor Thomas!  He made one remark and has been branded as “Doubting Thomas” ever since. But if he doubted, he also believed.  He made what is certainly the most explicit statement of faith in the New Testament: “My Lord and My God!”  [See John 20:28] and, in so expressing his faith, gave Christians a prayer that will be said till the end of time.

The emphasized portion reveals the most important point about Thomas.  He was – it might be said – the original “mother of all skeptics.”  But like the Apostle Paul, his testimony was all the more believable, forceful and compelling precisely because he “started out on the other side.”  See Was the Apostle Paul actually a false prophet:

Paul’s apostolic authority has been well documented in Scripture, beginning with his dramatic Damascus Road experience which changed him from a Christ-hating persecutor of Christians to the foremost spokesman for the faith.  His astonishing change of heart is one of the clearest indications of his anointing by the Lord Jesus Himself.  (E.A.)

(See also Galatians 1:13, where Paul said, “you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.”)

Of course Paul’s Damascus Road Experience is the more widely known of the two, but like St. Thomas, he too went from being at least a skeptic to a firm believer.  And as also noted above, Thomas gave arguably “the most explicit statement of faith in the New Testament.”

Getting back to Thomas’s own Passage to India (alluding to the 1924 “novel by English author E. M. Forster“)…   See for example St. Thomas – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online, which provided the image at right.  It also noted that in his travels, Thomas “ultimately reached India, carrying the Faith to the Malabar coast, which still boasts a large native population calling themselves ‘Christians of St. Thomas.'”

For another view, see About Saint Thomas the Apostle.  The site said after the Ascension of Jesus, the apostles decided who would go where for missionary purposes, and told Thomas to go to India.  He objected, saying he wasn’t healthy enough for such travel, and that “a Hebrew couldn’t possibly teach the Indians.”  But then, like St. Patrick, he became a literal slave:

A merchant eventually sold Thomas into slavery in India.  It was then, when he was freed from bondage that this saint began to form Christian parishes and building churches.  It’s not surprising that to this day, St. Thomas is especially venerated as The Apostle in India.  According to legend, Thomas built a total of seven churches in India, as well as being martyred during a prayer session with a spear around the year 72 C.E [and is]  upheld as an example of both doubter and a staunch and loyal believer in Christ…   After all, each of us has both of these characteristics residing deep within ourselves – both moments of doubt and those of great spiritual strength…

And that – the post concluded – is why “we are so drawn to this historical Christian figure.”

Note also the end of the Gospel reading noted for April 12:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Which is as good a way to end this post as any…

The “Martyrdom of St. Thomas by Peter Paul Rubens…”

The upper image is courtesy of Peter Paul Rubens: St Thomas – Art and the Bible. 

Re: “drag” and “bummer.”  The terms at issue – as popularized in the 1960s – are alternatively defined as “someone or something that is boring, annoying, or disappointing,” “someone or something that makes action or progress slower or more difficult,” or – vis-a-vis bummer – someone who “depresses, frustrates, or disappoints[, as in]: Getting stranded at the airport was a real bummer, or “an unpleasant or disappointing experience.”  And in turn it cannot be denied that there are some among the Christian faith whose methods could be deemed a drag, a bummer, or both. 

Re: John 20:28.  The commentary added, “The disbelief of the apostle is the means of furnishing us with a full and satisfactory demonstration of the resurrection of our Lord.”

Re: Thomas becoming a literal slave “like St. Patrick.”  See On St. Paddy and St. Joe.

The lower image is courtesy of Thomas the Apostle – Wikipedia.

From this Sunday’s Old Testament reading, Exodus 20:1-17…

The Bible readings for Sunday, March 8, are Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, and John 2:13-22.   For the full readings see the Third Sunday in Lent.  Here are some highlights.

In Exodus 20:1-17, Moses set out the Ten Commandments the first time.  (He did a second edition in Deuteronomy.  I.e.,  the “Ten Commandments appear twice in the Hebrew Bible, first at Exodus 20:1-17, and then at Deuteronomy 5:4-21.”)  See Ten Commandments – Wikipedia:

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the sabbath;  as well as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, theft, dishonesty, and adultery.

I wrote about the Ten Commandments in “Exodus: G&K,” the movie, On arguing with God, and On Moses and “illeism.”  The latter post asked the musical question, “What did Moses know, and when did he know it?”  (Alluding to a similar question asked during the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story altogether…)  That post also discussed illeism, the practice of “referring to oneself in the third person instead of first person.”

And just as an aside, such illeism has been used as a a stylistic device in literature:

Julius Caesar used the device in his Commentaries about the Gallic Wars, while Xenophon of Athens – from whom the term xenophobia derives – used it in Anabasis, “‘one of the great adventures in human history…'”

See On Moses, which noted that he used that same style in writing the Torah.

Turning to Psalm 19, I talked about it in The Psalms up to December 7.  I noted that Psalm 19 is “widely considered to be a ‘masterpiece of poetic literature,'” and that C. S. Lewis  –  who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia  –  considered it to be “the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.”  See also Psalm 19 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Verse 12 asks, “Who can tell how often he offends?  Cleanse me from my secret faults.”  I addressed that subject – “secret” or unknown sins – in On Ecclesiasticus (NOT “Ecclesiastes”), which cited Ecclesiasticus 5:5:  “Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin.”  The post also discussed “Holier than thou”, along with self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

See Psalms to December 7.   And now, turning to the New Testament reading…

The Apostle Paul began his 1st Letter to the Corinthians 1:18-25, “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” He then rendered what the International Bible Commentary called a “very free rendering of the LXX [Septuagint] translation” of Isaiah 29:14, to wit:  “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”  (See also 1st Corinthians 1:19 Parallel.)

Paul ended the reading by noting that “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

The Gospel reading, John 2:13-22, tells about Jesus cleansing the temple, after arming Himself with a whip of cords.  This episode is “in all four canonical gospels of the New Testament:”

The narrative of the “Cleansing of the Temple” tells of Jesus and the money changers…  In this Gospel episode Jesus and his disciples travel to Jerusalem for Passover, where he expels the money changers from the Temple, accusing them of turning the Temple into a den of thieves through their commercial activities. In the Gospel of John Jesus refers to the Temple as “my Father’s house…”  Some Christians think this is the only account of Jesus using physical force in any of the Gospels.

After the incident the disciples remembered Psalm 69:10, “Zeal for your house has eaten me up,” as detailed in On the psalms up to September 28.  The reading ended with Jesus promising to “raise this temple” in three days.  The “powers that be” thought that He was talking about the actual, physical Temple in Jerusalem, “but He was speaking of the temple of his body.”

The upper image is courtesy of The Ten Commandments (1956 film) – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “The artist’s rendering of Charlton Heston as Moses was bulked up to modern physique standards when the DVD was released.”

The lower image is courtesy of Cleansing of the Temple – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The caption:  “Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple, London version, by El Greco.”

“So we meet again,” says Moses to the Pharoah of Egypt, in Exodus:  Gods and Kings…

Yesterday – Sunday, February 15, 2015 – was the Last Sunday of the Epiphany season.  It was also Transfiguration Sunday, based on the Mark 9:29 account of the Transfiguration of Jesus.  That ties in with the movie Exodus:  God’s and Kings, because it shows Moses finally getting to the long-awaited Promised Land, some one thousand years after he died.

There’s more on that below, but first let’s get back to the actual movie, “Part II.”

I did an initial review, “Exodus: G&K,” the movie.  This second installment starts with some things the movie left out.  For one thing, it didn’t mention Moses writing the first five books of the Bible, the Torah or Pentateuch.  For another thing, it left out the part about Moses’ father-in-law “inventing the Supreme Court.”  See On Jethro inventing the supreme court.  Third, the  movie left out Zipporah telling Moses, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me!“  That was in Exodus 4:25, one of the “more unusual, curious, and much-debated passages of the Pentateuch.”  See Zipporah at the inn – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

But mostly this review will focus on how God got so mad at Moses that He didn’t let him enter the Promised Land, or at least not when Moses expected to.  But more on the below…

The movie itself starts with Moses – played by Christian Bale – at the height of his military prowess.  This Moses is a proud, self-sufficient warrior with little or no patience for the reading of entrails (see Haruspex – Wikipedia) or other religious superstitions of the time.

This Moses has no idea he was actually born a Hebrew, and strongly denies that charge when confronted.   (In the manner of Peter denying Jesus?)  He only ends up saying he’s Hebrew to keep the woman presented as his “sister” from having her hand chopped off.

In other words this movie-Moses is entirely different from what we’ve been led to expect.

On that note, some people read the Bible as saying Moses knew all along what he was about.  (Or at least after the Burning bush.)  They seem to believe Moses had no transition to make, from being a prince of Egypt to the offspring of a lowly slave woman, and eventually a fugitive murderer.  (An outlaw, a “lawless person … especially one who is a fugitive from the law.”)  Such people seem to believe that from the moment he did find out he was Jewish, Moses talked on and on with God, like good buddies, and that he – Moses – never had a moment of doubt.

Or argument.  At one point the Viceroy in charge of the Hebrew slaves asks Moses a question, when he – Moses – was still in his role as a devout Egyptian warrior.  The Viceroy asks if Moses knew that the very name Israel, “in their own language, means ‘fights with God?'”  In response this Moses was either well-read enough or open-minded enough to correct the Viceroy:  the correct literal translation is “wrestles with God.”   (For more see On arguing with God.)

And Moses in E: G&K is the opposite of what we’ve been led to expect for other reasons.  For one thing he hears voices, strange and unknown, just like Jesus.  See Jesus as a teenager:

“I fasted for three months.  I even whipped myself before I went to sleep.  At first it worked.  Then the pain came back.  And the voices.  They call me by the name: Jesus.”

(This was on the idea that ” Jesus may not have known the minute He was born who He was.  He found out some time later in His life.”  Just like Moses may have experienced…)

And the Moses in E: G&K is unlike what we’ve been led to expect because he is so full of pride and stubbornness and self-doubt, just like we are today.  And perhaps for that very reason, this Moses was someone God might choose for a special assignment, just as He did with the Apostle Paul.   (As Paul said “today,” of God:  “He has judged me to be faithful and has put me into His service, though I was previously a blasphemer and a persecutor…”)

In other words, from the beginning of the life that he knew – and especially so according to E: G&K – this Moses was strongly identified with the other side of God’s people, just as Paul was.  And yet – like the Apostle Paul – somehow this Moses pulled off a miracle…

I’ve said all along that the Bible would be far more relevant if it was written by people just like us.  And in my view, it is and was.  See for example, Another view of Jesus feeding the 5,000:

Suppose the Bible was about – and was written by – people just like us today? What if those Bible-writers had all the faults and failings that we have, yet they somehow managed to personally experience the presence of God, the Force that Created the Universe…

The Moses portrayed in Exodus: Gods and Kings is just such a person.

And this Moses was somebody God might punish by denying him entry into the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 tells of Moses climbing to the top of Mount Nebo, near the end of his life, to see the Promised Land he’d struggled so hard to reach but would – apparently – never enter:

Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land.  The view from the summit provides a panorama of the Holy Land and, to the north, a more limited one of the valley of the River Jordan…   According to the final chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses ascended Mount Nebo to view the Land of Israel, that he would never enter, and to die; he was buried in an unknown valley location in Moab (Deuteronomy 34).

See Mount Nebo – Wikipedia.  As to why God didn’t let Moses enter the Promised Land, there are several theories – some pretty far-fetched – set out in sites like Why was God so upset with Moses and Why Moses wasn’t allowed to enter the Promised Land.

The best answer seems to come from God’s faithful servant, Moses, which noted that in the fullness of time Moses made a comeback, in Matthew 17:1-8.  That’s when Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain, “and behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah:”

Moses’ faith had its ultimate reward and vindication centuries later.  In God’s economy, promises and fulfillment are not measured by our calendars.  Centuries run their course.  Yet some day in the future, the full meaning of our acts and life of faith will become evident.  That was true for Moses, and it will be true for us.

In other words, Moses eventually did make it to the Promised Land, just not when he expected.

All of which was implied at the end of E: G&K, with Moses sitting in a wagon, heading away from Egypt and toward his ultimate destiny.  He has aged dramatically, but he has the Ark of the Covenant safely tucked away in the back of the wagon, for further review later.

And so – at the end of the movie – all Moses had to do is get through 40 years of Wandering in the wildnerness.  During that time – aside from leading hundreds of thousands of love-to-argue desert cutthroats – all Moses had to do was write the first five books in the Bible, and in doing so convince his fellow Hebrews that they are God’s Chosen people…

The Transfiguration, where Moses realized a centuries-old dream…

The upper image is courtesy of Ridley Scott chooses 11-year-old boy as voice of God in Moses movie.

The lower image was borrowed from the post On the readings for October 26, and in turn is courtesy of The Transfiguration of Christ – Lorenzo Lotto – WikiArt.org.

Re: “As Paul said ‘today,’ of God.”  The New Testament reading in the Daily Office for Monday in the Week of 6 Epiphany is 1st Timothy 1:1-17, which includes the quoted verses 12-13.  (See 1st Timothy 1:12 .)  But while this normally would have been the Week of 6 Epiphany (Book of Common Prayer page 948), it is actually now the Week of Last Epiphany, with a different set of readings.  (See RSV.)

For a fuller explanation see Tables for Finding Holy Days, in the Book of Common Prayer Online:

Easter Day is always the Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring
equinox on March 21, a date which is fixed in accordance with an ancient ecclesiastical
computation, and which does not always correspond to the astronomical equinox. This full
moon may happen on any date between March 21 and April 18 inclusive.

The upshot is that since Easter Sunday is a “floating holiday” that ends the season of Lent, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are also “floating,” as is the end of Epiphany.   All of which means an assiduous reader of the Daily Office must now go through the readings for the Weeks of 6, 7 and 8 Epiphany, to get where he or she needs for “today,” Monday in the Week of Last Epiphany…