On Ecclesiasticus – NOT “Ecclesiastes”

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“Solomon” (at upper left) – who did not write Ecclesiasticus – and his “Judgment…” 

 

 

Since Friday – 17 October 2014 – the Old Testament readings in the Daily Office have been from the Book of Eccesiasticus, not to be confused with the better-known Book of Ecclesiastes, which inspired the 1965 hit song.  See Turn! Turn! Turn! – Wikipedia and The Byrds – Turn, Turn, Turn – YouTube.   (See also the readings at Lectionary – Satucket.com).  That brings up those old-time “Wisdom Books,” both in and outside the Bible.  See Wisdom literature – Wikipedia:

Wisdom literature is a genre of literature common in the Ancient Near East [using] traditional story-telling [to] offer insight and wisdom about nature and reality…   The most famous examples … are found in the Bible [, including] the Book of Job, Psalms, the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, the Book of Wisdom (also known as Wisdom of Solomon) and Sirach (also known as Ben Sira or Ecclesiasticus).  (E.A.)

Here’s some wisdom from Ecclesiasticus:  “Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin.” (5:5.)  That idea is related to the Unforgivable Sin Jesus noted in Mark 3:28-29; “the sinful things you say or do can be forgiven, no matter how terrible those things are.  But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven.  That sin will be held against you forever.”

The June 2014 post “Holier than thou” discussed that concept, along with self-righteousness and hypocrisy in general.  The post then asked, “So how do you know if you’re self-righteous???”

The answer?  “That’s the problem, you don’t.   If you’re self-righteous or are ‘holier than thou,’ you won’t realize it.”   But if you’re worried you may have committed this Biggest Sin, “you probably haven’t.”   Just being aware you may have done it “can assure you that you haven’t.”

Which brings us back to Wisdom Books.  One example is the Wisdom of Solomon, “considered deuterocanonical by some churches such as the Roman Catholic Church[, but not to be] confused with the Wisdom of Sirach, a work from the 2nd century BC, originally written in Hebrew.”  See Sirach – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Book of the All-Virtuous Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira … is a work of ethical teachings from approximately 200 to 175 BCE written by the Jewish scribe Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira of Jerusalem[,] generally considered the earliest witness to a canon of the books of the prophets, and thus the date of the text as we have it is the subject of intense scrutiny.  The book itself is the largest wisdom book to have been preserved from antiquity.

See also Shimon ben Yeshua, about the guy who wrote  Ecclesiasticus.  Wikipedia said he traveled extensively and spoke “of the perils of all sorts from which God had delivered him;” especially the calumnies of an Egyptian king, possibly Ptolemy V Epiphanes (from 203–181 BC and married Cleopatra I), or Ptolemy VI Philometor, from 181 BC for about 30 years.

The only fact known with certainty, drawn from the text itself, is that Ben Sira was a scholar, and a scribe thoroughly versed in the Law…  (E.A.)

Did I mention that I’ve been through the Bible ten times now?  (See THE SCRIBE, above.)  And on this last trip I ran across some “ancient bits of wisdom.”

For example, the DORs for Saturday October 18 included Ecclesiasticus 3:18, “The greater you are, the more humbly you should behave, and then you will find favor with the Lord.”  That day’s readings also had this, from 3:26; “Whoever loves danger will perish by it.”

The readings for Monday October 20 included Ecclesiasticus 5:5 (“Do not be so sure of forgiveness…”), and Thursday October 23 had this, from 10:4:  “The government of the earth is in the hands of the Lord, and over it he will raise up the right man for the time.*”  On that note see On dissin’ the Prez, on the Bible mandate, “do not speak evil of a leader of your people.”

The readings for Friday October 24 included this, “Do not find fault before you investigate; first consider, and then reprove.”  As to the media tendency to do precisely the opposite these days, see On “guilty until proven innocent” and also a lengthy movie review,  On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part I, and On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part II.

Getting back to the main point of this Wisdom Book:

Ecclesiasticus deals with the sin of presumption.  Presumption is to be overconfident in oneself and ability, in theology it is to presume on God’s mercy.  Ecclesiasticus states;  Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin.   And do not say[:]  His compassion is great He will forgive me my many sins.  For with Him are both mercy and wrath and His rage bears heavy on sinners.

See Fr. Gabriel Burke: 20/02/11 – 27/02/11.   And finally, here’s the last verse from the reading for Friday October 24, Ecclesiasticus 11:20, “Grow old in your work.“

That’s exactly what I hope to do with the blog…

Now, about that “Cleopatra” noted above.  (Cleopatra I, queen of  Ptolemy V Epiphanes who gave Ben Sira such grief.)   She was not the one celebrated in the movie below.  Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra VII (the Seventh), “who, being far better known than all others of that name, is known to history as Cleopatra without qualifications.”  See Cleopatra – Wikipedia.

(Who knew?  Seven different Cleopatras?)

 

 

The upper image is courtesy Peter Paul Rubens: The Judgement of Solomon – Statens Museum, which noted, “The painting has a warm and a cold side.  This polarisation concerns both the grouping of the colors and the story itself.  The warm colors – the yellow garments of the true mother, Solomon’s red cloak and golden throne – against the cold hues – the executioner’s blue sash, the false mother’s icily white dress, and the twisted silvery columns behind her.   See also Book of Wisdom – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and the article on Solomon contained therein:  “Although the author’s name is nowhere given in the text, the writer was traditionally believed to be King Solomon because of references such as that found in IX:7-8.”

On the subject at hand, see also What is the “Unforgivable Sin”? | Bible Gateway Blog:  “If you’re worried that you may be guilty of the unforgivable sin, you almost certainly are not,” Rick Cornish aptly points out in his book Five Minute Theologian.  ‘Concern about committing it reveals the opposite attitude of what the sin is.  Those who might be guilty wouldn’t care because they have no distress or remorse over the possibility.’”

As to the asterisk (“*”), some of the translations from Ecclesiasticus came from Ecclesiasticus / Sirach – Chapter 1 – Bible – Catholic Online, which translated Chapter 10 verse 4 as, “The government of the earth is in the hands of the Lord, he sets the right leader over it at the right time.”  

The lower image was courtesy of Cleopatra (1963) – Turner Classic Movies, noting the 50th Anniversary DVD and/or Blu-Ray edition of the original starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. See also Cleopatra – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 

 

 

On the readings for October 26

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Transfiguration by Lorenzo Lotto

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

 

 

The readings for Sunday October 26 are Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90:1-6,13-17, First  Thessalonians 2:1-8, and Matthew 22:34-46.  For more on Psalm 90, see Psalms up to October 26.  The full Bible readings are at Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost.  Here are some highlights.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 tells about Moses, climbing to the top of Mount Nebo, to see the “Promised Land” he had 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 them 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, 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.

See also Transfiguration of Jesus – Wikipedia, emphasis added.  Note that Mount Nebo is six miles northwest of Madaba in Jordan, some 19 miles southwest of Amman (Jordan’s capital), and just opposite the northern end of the Dead Sea.  On the other hand Mount Tabor – which according to tradition is where the Transfiguration occurred – is located “in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, 11 miles (18 km) west of the Sea of Galilee.”

In other words – in case I’m being too subtle – Moses eventually did make it to the Promised Land, inside Israel and west of the Sea of Galilee, just not when he expected to.  Which is another way of saying that quite often God has a different timetable than ours.  Put another way, you could say if you wait long enough you will – with God’s help – eventually enter that Promised Land…

(In modern terms, Moses died some seven miles due east of the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, inside Jordan, while in the Transfiguration he “met up” with Jesus on Mount Tabor, inside Israel and 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee.)

Anyway, the reading ended with the “torch being passed” from Moses to Joshua; “Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses.”

As to 1st Thessalonians 2:1-8, the International Bible Commentary (IBC) noted that the “ancient world was full of wandering ‘philosophers’ and ‘holy men’ who were greedy and unscrupulous,” and that some of Paul’s enemies accused him of just that.  In the reading Paul presented his defense, including his declaring the “gospel of God in spite of great opposition” and that as God was his witness, “we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed.”  Instead “we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.”  (The “we” referred to Paul, Silvanus and Timothy.  See 1st Thessalonians 1:1.)

In Matthew 22:34-46, Jesus listed the Two Great Commandments when the Pharisees tried to trick Him.  See Great Commandments – Wikipedia, “cited by Jesus in Matthew 22:35–40, [and] Mark 12:28–34.  These two … are taken from the Law of Moses in the Old Testament and are commonly seen as important to Christian ethics.”   In turn Jesus foiled the Pharisees by a display of His dazzling knowledge of the Book of Psalms, in this case Psalm 110:1:  “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet'”  He then asked, “‘If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’  No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”

All of which was a prelude to “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees…”

 

 

The upper image is courtesy of The Transfiguration of Christ – Lorenzo Lotto – WikiArt.org.  See also The Transfiguration – Images Bible, which added these notes about the painting:

Jesus, surrounded by Moses and Elijah, is “transfigured,” suffused with light coming from Heaven and acknowledged as Son of God by a celestial voice that here takes the shape of a written text.  On the left, Moses recognizable by the tables of the Law and on the right, the prophet Elijah, bend the knee before Christ…   The three men on the ground are the apostles, Peter recognizable by his keys, John always young and beardless and James without any distinguishing sign.  They have been thrown down and they protect their eyes from the light coming from Christ.

For another view of Moses – his entering “the Promised Land” temporarily put on hold – see Tissot Moses Sees the Promised Land from Afar.jpg.  For more paintings by Tissot of the Moses saga, see Paintings of Moses and the Exodus featuring watercolors.

The locations of Mount Nebo and Mount Tabor were gleaned from the Wikipedia articles noted, along with Mount Tabor – Wikipedia and Mount Nebo – Jordan – Sacred Destinations, and Google Maps. Note also the Bible said Mount Nebo was at “the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho,” which could cause confusion.  (A mountain on top of a mountain?)  But as Wikipedia explained:

Some translators [list Pisgah] as a name of a mountain, usually referring to Mount Nebo … east of the Jordan River and just northeast of the Dead Sea.  Mount Nebo [] is the highest among a handful of Pisgah summits; an arid cluster of hilltops…

“Pisgah” in Hebrew means “summit” or “peak,” but in translation the term lost its meaning and now has come to refer to a “collection of mountain summits.”  See also Mount Pisgah (Bible). 

As to other people sharing the perceived negativity and close-mindedness of many who call themselves Christian, in his article Mooney noted, “While I don’t believe in organized religion, I do believe in God, and I do have faith in the narrative of Jesus…”   See Why I’d Still Believe In God.

As to finally entering “that Promised Land” (if you wait long enough), see also:  “If you wait by the river long enough, you’ll see the bodies of your enemies floating by.” Quote by Sun Tzu: “If you wait by the river long enough… 

The lower image is courtesy of Woes of the Pharisees – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which noted that the “woes mostly criticise the Pharisees for hypocrisy and perjury.  They illustrate the differences between inner and outer moral states.”   Jesus went on to announce the “woe to you … hypocrites” in the following chapter, Matthew 23:1-39.  For a related image see Brooklyn Museum: European Art: The Pharisees Question Jesus, with the caption, “The Pharisees Question Jesus (Les pharisiens questionnent Jésus),” an opaque water color by French artist James Tissot, 1836-1902.

 

On the Psalms up to October 26

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 Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1, “Eli, Eli lama sabactani!!”    (As “seen from the cross…”)

 

 

Welcome to DORScribe, a blog about reading the Bible with an open mind…

In other words, this blog is different.  It’s different because it says that you can get more out of the Bible by reading it with an open mind, and that it was written to liberate people, not shackle them into some kind of “spiritual straitjacket.”

Such ideas run contrary to some common perceptions these days.

Money.  Power.  Rules.  Politics.  Those seem to be the reasons why too many Americans are turning away from the Christian religion, along with the general perception that too many Christians are way too negative.  But Jesus was anything but “negative.”

For more on these thoughts and others see About this Blog, which talks instead about the Three Great Promises of Jesus, and about how through those promises we can live full, rich lives of spiritual abundance and do greater miracles than Jesus, if only we open our minds…

In the meantime:

This regular feature focuses on next Sunday’s psalm, and on highlights from the psalms in the Daily Office Readings (DORs) during the week leading up to that upcoming Sunday.  Usually I’ll review the next Sunday’s readings on the Wednesday before, and also review the psalms from the DORs for the week ending on the Tuesday just before that “prior Wednesday.”

The Lectionary  psalm for Sunday, October 26, is Psalm 90, discussed below.  The Daily Office psalms are from the readings for Wednesday October 15 up to Tuesday October 21.

Here are some highlights from last week.

The DORs for Wednesday, October 15 included Psalm 119:19, “I am a stranger here on earth.”  That verse goes along with one of the psalms for Tuesday October 21, Psalm 39:14; “For I am but a sojourner with you, a wayfarer, as all my forebears were.”   (Both psalm-verses remind us that that our stay here on Earth is temporary…)

The DORs for Friday, October 17, include Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”   In the original Hebrew or Aramaic (there’s some debate), it’s “Eli, Eli lama sabactani:”

It is the only saying that appears in more than one Gospel [Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34], and is a quote from King David in Psalm 22:1.  This saying is taken by some as an abandonment of the Son by the Father.  Other theologians understand the cry as that of one who was truly human and who felt forsaken.  Put to death by his foes, very largely deserted by his friends, he may have felt also deserted by God.

See Sayings of Jesus on the cross – Wikipedia.  See also Sabachthani, which explores the Hermeneutic  meaning of the word, including possible Hebrew and Aramaic variations.  The site further explores whether that key word means “sacrificed” or “forsaken:”

Does it matter whether one interprets sabachthani as forsaken or as sacrificed?  The phrase, “Why have you sacrificed me?” avoids the escape route of explaining Jesus’ vital question by means of rare Aramaic words.  It keeps us tied to Hebrew Scripture, and at the same time gives a deeper meaning to an Old Testament prophecy.  It also changes the nature of Christ’s cry.  It is not the complaint of a desperate victim, David, but the shout of our victorious Savior, Jesus.  When Christ asks with a loud voice, “Why have you sacrificed me?” He wants all believers to shout, “To reconcile us with God, and to give us eternal life!”

Psalm 22:16-18 also applied to Jesus; “they have pierced my hands and feet – they stare and gloat over me;  they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.”

The DORs for Saturday, October 18, included Psalm 110.  For more on that, and especially verses 1 and 4, see On the Psalms up to September 7 (on “Melchiz′edek”).  The DORs for Monday, October 20, included Psalm 9:10, “You never forsake those who seek you, O Lord,” and as noted, Tuesday (10/21) includes Psalm 39:14, “For I am but a sojourner with you…”

Getting back to Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 (for Sunday October 26), it’s a prayer on “God’s Eternity and Human Frailty.”  This reading leaves out verses 7 through 12, including verse 10 (in the ERV), “We live about 70 years or, if we are strong, 80 years.  But most of them are filled with hard work and pain.  Then, suddenly, the years are gone, and we fly away.”   (Which is of course all too true…)

The International Bible Commentary (IBC) said the psalm is about “life’s either-or” (poor choices), a reflection after a period of calamity and of hoping “prayerfully for better things.”

Verses 1 and 2 are thus an affirmation of faith, while verses 3 to 6 are a “meditation on man’s finiteness[;]  The somber fact of human mortality stands out all the starker against the background of divine infinity.”  That leads to verses 13 to 17, a “prayer for blessed lives” and an appeal to God for mitigation; “God’s servants cannot live aright without God’s gracious help.”

And a BTW:  The IBC noted – about verse 10 – that “In the light of anthropological archaeology seventy years was not the average age but a standard limit that some might reach.”

The psalm begins “Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to another” and ends, “May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon us; prosper the work of our hands…”

 

The upper image is courtesy of Sayings of Jesus on the cross – Wikipedia, with the caption,
“Crucifixion, seen from the Cross by James Tissot, c. 1890.”  For another view see My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? – Brooklyn Museum, referring to the work in “Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper,” by the same French artist, James Tissot (1836-1902):

In the ninth hour of the Passion (three o’clock in the afternoon), Jesus “gives utterance to that cry of anguish, the most heartrending which ever resounded upon this earth,” Tissot writes.  In his commentary, Tissot indicates that Christ’s words – the title of this work – are derived from the opening verse of the 22nd Psalm, a text that begins with a lamentation on God’s seeming absence or desertion.

The full “Hermeneutic” citation is Hermeneutics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Note also that Psalm 22 includes verses 7-8, “All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads;  ‘He committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!'”  Compare that with Matthew 27:39-43:

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!   If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”    So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.  He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.   He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

The lower image is courtesy of Psaltery – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the full caption:   “A woman playing a psalterion.  Ancient Greek red-figured pelike from Anzi, Apulia, circa 320–310 BCE.”

On “All Hallows E’en” – Part I

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“A graveyard outside a Lutheran church in Röke, Sweden on the feast of All Hallows…”

 

All Saints Day is a major feast in the Christian calendar, and comes each year on November 1.  Note that the Old English word for “saints” was halig, which eventually became “hallow.”  (Possibly because it was easier to say.)

So the Old English “All Haligs’ Day” became “All Hallows,” and in turn the evening before that Feast Day became “All Hallows Evening.”  In time that got shortened, to “All Hallows E’en,” then “Hallowe’en,” and then just plain Halloween.

And here’s another note:  There are three days in the Hallowmas triduum.  (A triduum is a “traditional religious observance lasting three days.”)

The main Feast Day of the triduum is All Saints’ Day, which this year falls on a Saturday (10/1/14), which brings up the matter of the early Church absorbing “native practices:”

According to many scholars, All Hallows’ Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain…  On All Hallows’ Eve, Christians traditionally believed that the veil between the material world and the afterlife thinned.

See Halloween – Wikipedia, emphasis added.  (Samhain was an age-old Celtic festival “marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the ‘darker half’ of the year.”)

As originally practiced, on the Eve of All Hallows, people would wear masks or put on costumes in order to disguise their identities.  The idea was to keep the afterlife “hallows” from recognizing the people in this, the “material world.”   (Hallows being another name for the “souls” or “ghosts” of the dear departed, and especially those recently departed):

The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld.

So to review, Halloween is just one day of the three-day religious observance known as Hallowmas, also known as the Triduum of All Hallows.  And again, that three-day celebration includes:  1) All Hallows’ Eve (Hallowe’en),  2) All Saints’ Day (All Hallows’ Day), and  3) All Soul’s Day, to form the triduum that lasts from October 31 to November 2.

Wikipedia added that “Hallowmas is a time to remember the dead, including martyrs, saints, and all faithful departed Christians.  The dates of Hallowmas were established in the 8th century,” over 1,200 years ago, and the liturgical color of All Saints Day is white, a color which symbolizes “victory and life.”    [Which is, after all, the whole idea…]

Christians who celebrate All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day do so in the fundamental belief that there is a prayerful spiritual bond between those in heaven (the “Church triumphant“), and the living (the “Church militant“).

Further, while honoring the “Church Triumphant,” All Hallows Day seeks especially to “honor the blessed who have not been canonized and who have no special feast day.”

As for All Souls’ Day, in Western Christianity the day is also known as “the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed.”   It’s the third day of Hallowmas and falls on November 2.

In the Anglican Communion, the intermediate state is known as Hades … and as a result ‘the Church has always held that it is right and proper for us to pray [for] the souls of the departed, that they may go from grace to grace until they are finally received in Heaven,’ which will occur after the Resurrection of the Dead and the General Judgment.

And a word of explanation, as to that intermediate state:

That’s the state of being that “we” are in right now, that is, in our present earthly incarnation while moving toward our “heavenly” goal.  (Which leads to the wisdom stated in Psalm 119:19, “I am a stranger here on earth.“)  As to the practice of “trick or treating,” it’s based on that old Celtic practice of wearing a disguise to keep the hallows or ghosts from recognizing you.  See Trick-or-treating – Wikipedia:

The “trick” is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given to them.  In North America, trick-or-treating has been a customary Halloween tradition since the late 1940s…   Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2).  It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy.

Souling became a regular observance in the country towns of England, where “small companies [went] about from parish to parish at Halloween, begging soul-cakes” and singing a song, “Soul, soul, for a soul-cake:  Pray you, good mistress, a soul-cake!’”   (The rich “gave soul cakes to the poor on Halloween” in return for prayers for “the souls of the givers and their friends…”)

A soul-cake is small round cake “traditionally made for All Saints Day or All Souls’ Day to celebrate the dead.  The cakes, often simply referred to as souls, were given out to soulers,” (mainly children and the poor), who went “from door to door on Halloween singing and saying prayers for the dead.  Each cake eaten would represent a soul being freed from Purgatory.  The practice of giving and eating soul cakes is often seen as the origin of modern trick-or-treating.”

And of images like the one below.

 

 

The upper image is courtesy of Allhallowtide – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the caption:  “A graveyard outside a Lutheran church in Röke, Sweden on the feast of All Hallows. Flowers and lighted candles are placed by relatives on the graves of their deceased loved ones.”

The text was gleaned from that online article and others including Halloween – Wikipedia (and articles therein), as is the lower image, with the caption:  “A jack-o’-lantern, one of the symbols of Halloween representing the souls of the dead.”  See also History of Halloween – Halloween History,  Halloween – Library of Congress, Hallow’s Eve – American Catholic, and/or BBC – Religions – Christianity: All Hallows’ Eve. 

“The term jack-o’-lantern is in origin a term for the visual phenomenon ignis fatuus (lit., “foolish fire”) known as a will-o’-the-wisp in English folklore.  Used especially in East Anglia, its earliest known use dates to the 1660s.   The term ‘will-o’-the-wisp’ uses ‘wisp’ (a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch) and the proper name ‘Will:’ thus, ‘Will-of-the-torch.’   The term jack-o’-lantern is of the same construction: ‘Jack of [the] lantern.'”

According to some accounts, jack-o’-lanterns “represented Christian souls in purgatory,” while others say “they were sometimes set on windowsills to keep the harmful spirits out of one’s home.”

 

On St. Luke – physician, historian, artist…

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 Saint Luke, by El Greco (circa 1607)…

*   *   *   *

Saturday, October 18, is the Feast Day for Saint Luke the Evangelist.  Isaac Asimov noted that Luke wrote the “third and last of the synoptic gospels,” which like the Gospel of Matthew was based on the first-written Gospel, Mark, with additional matter included.

Mark is said to have been written “as early as the mid 50s” – 50 A.D. – while Matthew seems to have been written somewhere between 61 and 70 A.D., and Luke seems to have been written in the following decade, some time between 71 and 80 A.D.   As to the “synoptics:”

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are considered synoptic gospels on the basis of many similarities between them that are not shared by the Gospel of John.  “Synoptic” means here that they can be “seen” or “read together…”  The synoptic gospels are the source of many popular stories, parables, and sermons, such as Jesus’ humble birth in Bethlehem, the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, the Last Supper, and the Great Commission…   The fourth gospel [John], presents a very different picture of Jesus and his ministry…

See Gospel – Wikipedia.  Getting back to Asimov’s commentary, while Mark was written for “the ordinary Christian of Jewish background” – and Matthew was written to fit “the ears of those learned in Old Testament lore” – Luke wrote his Gospel “for the ears of Gentiles who are sympathetic to Christianity and are considering conversion.”  Then too Luke treated Roman authorities “more gently than in the first two gospels, and Jesus Himself is portrayed as far more sympathetic to Gentiles” than in Matthew or Mark.

See also Luke the Evangelist – Wikipedia, which said he “is believed by many scholars to be a Greek physician who lived in the Greek city of Antioch in Ancient Syria.”  The article added that – according to the early church fathers – Luke wrote “both the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.  (Originally a single work called Luke-Acts.”  Also:

Based on his accurate description of towns, cities and islands, as well as correctly naming various official titles, archaeologist Sir William Ramsay wrote that “Luke is a historian of the first rank [and] should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”  Professor of Classics at Auckland University, E.M. Blaiklock, wrote: “For accuracy of detail, and for evocation of atmosphere, Luke stands, in fact, with Thucydides.  The Acts of the Apostles is not shoddy product of pious imagining, but a trustworthy record… it was the spadework of archaeology which first revealed the truth.”  New Testament scholar Colin Hemer [also attested to] the historical nature and accuracy of Luke’s writings.  (E.A.)

But Luke wasn’t just a writer and historian, he was also an artist: “Christian tradition states that he was the first icon painter [and] is said to have painted pictures of the Virgin Mary and Child.” Some 600 icons “claiming to have been painted by Luke” include the “Black Madonna of Częstochowa and Our Lady of Vladimir.  He was also said to have painted Saints Peter and Paul, and to have illustrated a gospel book with a full cycle of miniatures.“

See also St. Luke – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online, which noted Luke is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons, that he has “been identified with St. Paul’s ‘Luke, the beloved physician'” in Colossians 4:14, and that he was a loyal comrade who stayed with Paul during his imprisonment in Rome.  Further, Luke added some distinctive accounts in his Gospel:

Only in Luke do we hear the story of the Prodigal Son welcomed back by the overjoyed father. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus’ feet with her tears.  Throughout Luke’s gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God’s mercy…   Reading Luke’s gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor, who wanted the door to God’s kingdom opened to all, who respected women, and who saw hope in God’s mercy for everyone.

And finally, see the Collect for St. Luke’s Feast Day, Saturday October 18:  “Almighty God, who inspired your servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of your Son:  Graciously continue in your Church this love and power to heal…“

*   *   *   *

File:Maarten van Heemskerck - St Luke Painting the Virgin and Child - WGA11299.jpg

Saint Luke painting the Virgin and Child… 

*   *   *   *

The upper image is courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: El_Greco_-_St_Luke_-_WGA10577.jpg, which included the note:   “El Greco portrayed the apostles with a powerfully expressive body language. This St Luke is from a cycle for the Toledo Cathedral…  El Greco included St Luke in several of his [paintings of the Apostles] although Luke was not actually one of the twelve apostles.  Here the artist provided the Western version of a subject he depicted in quite different terms during his period as an icon painter.”

The lower image is courtesy of File: Maarten van Heemskerck – St Luke Painting the Virgin, and/or “Wikimedia.”  See also Maarten van Heemskerck – Wikipedia, which noted that the artist (1498-1574) was a “Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem,” and did the painting above in or about 1532.

The Asimov quotes are from Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Two Volumes in One),  Avenel Books (1981), at pages 912-15.

*   *   *   *

Note especially Luke 21:5-36, which talks of the “Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times,” what is known as the Little Apocalypse, in turn also known as the Olivet Discourse.  See  Wikipedia and The Son of Man and the Little Apocalypse|Catholic World:

[T]he Olivet Discourse, sometimes called a “little apocalypse” (see Mt 24-25 and Lk 21) because it contains difficult teachings by Jesus about the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70 and the final day of judgment.  Like The Apocalypse of John the Revelator, the little apocalypse is filled with strong imagery and a complex web of allusions drawn from the Old Testament, especially from the prophets.  

Mark’s version of the Little Apocalypse is in his Chapter 13, and especially at verse 14-37.  But unlike Mark-and-Matthew’s version, Luke had to assume his Gentile audience didn’t know of the “desolating sacrilege” that Jesus spoke of in those two Gospels, where He alluded to the Book of Daniel (9:27, 11:31, and 12:11).   So Luke changed Jesus’ reference to Daniel  and said instead, in Luke 24: “They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations.  Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”  

Jesus then warned the disciples about the Abomination of Desolation “standing where it does not belong.”    The Gospels of Matthew and Mark add “—let the reader understand—.”  This is generally considered to be a reference to two passages from the Book of Daniel.[Dan. 9:27] [11:31]

See also Luke 21:20, “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.”   These other indicia date Luke’s Gospel as coming after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Diaspora.   See The Romans Destroy the Temple at Jerusalem, 70 AD, Diaspora – Wikipedia – especially regarding  expulsion of Jews from Judea – and also The Diaspora | Jewish Virtual Library, which noted:  “After 73 AD, Hebrew history would only be the history of the Diaspora as the Jews and their world view spread over Africa, Asia, and Europe.”

On the readings for October 19

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Jesus and the “tribute money,” subject of today’s Gospel…

 

 

Welcome to DORScribe, a blog about reading the Bible with an open mind…

 

In other words, this blog is different.  It’s different because it says that you can get more out of the Bible by reading it with an open mind, and that it was written to liberate people, not shackle them into some kind of “spiritual straitjacket.”

Such ideas run contrary to some common perceptions these days.

Money.  Power.  Rules.  Politics.  Those seem to be the reasons why too many Americans are turning away from the Christian religion, along with the general perception that too many Christians are way too negative.  But Jesus was anything but “negative.”

For more on these thoughts and others see About this Blog, which talks instead about the Three Great Promises of Jesus, and about how through those promises we can live full, rich lives of spiritual abundance and do greater miracles than Jesus, if only we open our minds…

In the meantime:

The readings for Sunday, October 19, are Exodus 33:12-23, Psalm 99, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, and Matthew 22:15-22.  For more on Psalm 99, see On the Psalms up to October 19.  You can see the full readings at Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, but here are some highlights.

In Exodus 33:12-23, Moses first offered up a “prayer for God’s presence,” then requested a theophany, a “revelation of divine glory” which would assure Moses “that his prayers have been answered,” as noted by the International Bible Commentary (IBC).   As Moses said in verse 16, “For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us?   In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.”  God granted the request, after which Moses then asked, “Show me your glory, I pray.” (It seems that Moses could be a tad pushy at times, not knowing when to stop.)

For another commentary on this passage, see  “Exodus 33:18-23 – A View of the Glory of God“.   And as to Psalm 99, see On the Psalms up to October 19.

The New Testament reading is the beginning of Paul’s letter to the church he established at Thessalonika (in Greece), 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10.  Of this it has been written:

The words that you have just heard read in our epistle lesson for today are probably the first words that were ever written that became parts of the New Testament.  Bible scholars tell us that Paul wrote this letter to the Christians at Thessalonica about twenty years after the death and resurrection of Christ and about twenty years before the Gospel According to Mark was written to collect and preserve the early church’s memories of the life of Jesus.  This passage can tell us a lot about the Bible as a whole. 

See What Can We Believe about the Bible?  See also First Epistle to the Thessalonians – Wikipedia, which noted:   “The first letter to the Thessalonians was probably the first of Paul’s letters, [about] the end of AD 52, making it the first written book in the New Testament.”  This first passage from the letter consists of a “salutation and thanksgiving,” in which Paul notes in part that the faith of the Thessalonian church has become well known; “in every place your faith in God has become known … and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven;” that is, Jesus.

In Matthew 22:15-22, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking whether it was “lawful” to pay taxes – tribute money – to the Roman forces occupying the Hebrew homeland.  His answer, in the best known translation, was “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”  As Wikipedia noted:

This phrase has become a widely quoted summary of the relationship between Christianity and secular authority.  The original message, coming in response to a question of whether it was lawful for Jews to pay taxes to Caesar, gives rise to multiple possible interpretations about the circumstances under which it is desirable for the Christian to submit to earthly authority.

See Render unto Caesar, emphasis added.  Which raises a good question:  How can you strictly, literally or “fundamentally” construe multiple possible interpretations?

(See also On “originalism”, which explored the idea that one of our important national documents could be “evolving, changing over time,” and capable of adapting to new circumstances, as opposed to being rigid, inflexible and/or incapable of adapting.)

 

 

 

Is this a duck or a rabbit?  See below…

 

The upper image is courtesy of Render unto Caesar – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the full caption, “The Tribute Money by Titian depicts Jesus being shown the tribute penny.”

Also as to Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonika:  “The first thing we discover is that when Paul wrote these words, he had no idea he was writing part of the Bible.  He was writing a personal letter to some friends who were part of a church Paul and his friends Timothy and Silvanus had helped to bring into being during their missionary work.”  What Can We Believe about the Bible?    Located in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, this city is the second-largest in Greece and capital of the region of Macedonia; “An important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire.” See Thessaloniki – Wikipedia.

The lower image is courtesy of  Ambiguous image – Wikipedia.  See also Define Ambiguous at Dictionary.com, which defined the term as being “open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations.”   See also On three suitors (a parable), discussing problems with the “parabolic” method of teaching, as used by Jesus; that is, teaching through the use of parables:

The essence of the parabolic method of teaching is that life and the words that tell of life can mean more than one thing.  Each hearer is different and therefore to each hearer a particular secret of the kingdom [of God] can be revealed.  We are supposed to create nimshalim for ourselves.

The post noted that in transposing a parable from oral to written form, “it  needed an interpretation added to it.   (In Hebrew the word for such interpretation is nimshal, or the plural, nimshalim.)”

 

 

 

 

On the Psalms up to October 19

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“A woman playing a psalterion,” an instrument used to accompany psalms…

 

 

Welcome to DORScribe, a blog about reading the Bible with an open mind…

In other words, this blog is different.  It’s different because it says that you can get more out of the Bible by reading it with an open mind, and that it was written to liberate people, not shackle them into some kind of “spiritual straitjacket.”

Such ideas run contrary to some common perceptions these days.

Money.  Power.  Rules.  Politics.  Those seem to be the reasons why too many Americans are turning away from the Christian religion, along with the general perception that too many Christians are way too negative.  But Jesus was anything but “negative.”

For more on these thoughts and others see About this Blog, which talks instead about the Three Great Promises of Jesus, and about how through those promises we can live full, rich lives of spiritual abundance and do greater miracles than Jesus, if only we open our minds…

In the meantime:

This feature focuses on next Sunday’s psalm, and on highlights from the psalms in the Daily Office Readings (DORs) in the week leading up to that upcoming Sunday.  The general plan is to review next Sunday’s readings on the Wednesday before, and to review the psalms from the DORs for the week ending on the Tuesday just before that “prior Wednesday.”

The Lectionary  psalm for Sunday, October 19, is Psalm 99.  The highlighted DOR psalms are from the readings for Wednesday October 8 up to Tuesday October 14.

Psalm 99 will be discussed below, but here are some highlights from last week.

The DORs for Friday, October 10, included Psalm 143:10, “Teach me to do what pleases you, for you are my God.”  (Always a good idea.)  And the DORs for Saturday, October 11, include the well-known Psalm 137:5, in the King James Version (the one God uses):

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

For recent examples of the psalm see If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem! | Ken Blackwell – Huffington Post.  Note too it was the title of a William Faulkner novel, If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem – Wikipedia, which noted the novel “was originally published under the title The Wild Palms, which is the title of one of the two interwoven stories.  This title was chosen by the publishers … over the objections of Faulkner’s choice of a title.” 

For those of us needing to be “taken down a notch,” there’s Psalm 144:3, also one of the DORs for October 11:  “O Lord, what are we that you should care for us?  Mere mortals that you should think of us?”  Verse 9 of Psalm 144 says, “O God, I will sing to you a new song,” not the same old rehash of songs somebody else has done.  (Okay, that was a loose translation, but see also the posts under “sing lord new song” in the Search Engine above.)   Psalm 144:16 reads, “Happy are the people of whom this is so!  Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!”

The DORs for Saturday the 11th also included Psalm 104:27, “There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, which you made for the sport of it.”  Not only does this show that God has a sense of humor (type in “God sense of humor” in the Search Engine above), it also refers to “a sea monster referenced in the Tanakh, or the Old Testament,” and specifically in the Book of Job (as shown below).  See On Job, the not-so-patient and also Leviathan – Wikipedia:

The word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature.  In literature (e.g., Herman Melville‘s Moby-Dick) it refers to great whales, and in Modern Hebrew, it simply means “whale.”  It is described extensively in Job 41 and mentioned in Psalm 104:26 [104:27 in the Revised Standard Version] and Isaiah 27:1. 

On the note of God having a sense of humor, see Psalm 2:4, from the DORs for Monday, October 13, “He whose throne is in heaven is laughing; the Lord has them in derision.”

Then there’s Psalm 2:7, in the KJV, “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”  One website said this:

Another psalm utilized often in the New Testament is Psalm 2, particularly verses 7–8:  “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.  Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage…’”  The apostles even interpret their persecution in light of the “raging of the nations” against Christ, the appointed King, as described in Psalm 2:1–2 (Acts 4:25–28), and Christ Himself, when He commands the apostles to disciple … in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20) … claiming the post-resurrection promise of God to the King He has installed in Zion: “Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage” (Ps. 2:8).  The author of Hebrews utilizes Psalm 2:7 to develop the glory of Christ as the exalted High Priest (Heb. 5:5)…

See Jesus and the Psalms – Ligonier Ministries.  In other words, and as has been stated repeatedly in this format, “It pays to know the psalms!”

And finally, of Psalm 99 – the one for next Sunday the 19th – it has been written, “There are three psalms which begin with the words, ‘The Lord (JEHOVAH) reigneth.’ (Psalms 93, 97, 99.) This [Psalm 99] is the third and last of these Psalms; and it is remarkable that in this Psalm the words He is holy are repeated three times (Psalm 99:3, 5, 9).”  See Treasury of David—Psalm 99 – The Spurgeon Archive, and also Psalm 99 Commentary by James Limburg:

As to genre, this is an enthronement psalm.  There are two types of psalms associated with kingship in ancient Israel.  The royal psalms are associated with events in the life of Israel’s king, such as a royal wedding (Psalm 45) or the installation of a new king (Psalms 2, 72, 101, 110)…   There are seven psalms that speak of the Lord being acclaimed king at some sort of festival.  These are called the enthronement psalms and include Psalms 47, 93, 95-99.

Note too that Psalm 99 begins and ends with a note of proper awe and respect:  “The LORD is King; let the people tremble; * He is enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth shake.”  And verse 9,  “Proclaim the greatness of the LORD our God and worship him upon his holy hill; * for the LORD our God is the Holy One.”

 

The upper image is courtesy of Psaltery – Wikipedia, with the full caption:   “A woman playing a psalterion.  Ancient Greek red-figured pelike from Anzi, Apulia, circa 320–310 BCE.”

The lower image is courtesy of Leviathan – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the caption, “‘Destruction of Leviathan,’ 1865 engraving by Gustave Doré.”

On “guilty until proven innocent”

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 Over 200 years ago…

 Welcome to DORScribe, a blog about reading the Bible with an open mind…

In other words, this blog is different.  It’s different because it says that you can get more out of the Bible by reading it with an open mind, and that it was written to liberate people, not shackle them into some kind of “spiritual straitjacket.” Such ideas run contrary to some common perceptions these days.  For example:

I don’t have a problem with God.  I have a problem with religion.  I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith.

See 10 Questions for Sting – TIME.  (But here’s a news flash:  “If your religion makes you ‘certain,’you’re missing the point!”  See for example, On a dame and a mystic.) The comment by Gordon Matthew (Sting) provides an example of some common perceptions today:   1) that too many Christians are close-minded; 2) that too many are way too negative; or 3) that too many think The Faith of the Bible is all about getting you to follow their rules, on pain of you “going to hell.”  (See also my way or the highway – Wiktionary.) For more on such thoughts see About this Blog, which talks instead about the Three Great Promises of Jesus, to all people, and about how through those promises we can live full, rich lives of spiritual abundance and do greater miracles than Jesus, if only we open our minds…

In the meantime:

Talk about old-time, conservative sentiments.  That’s William Blackstone all right. Speaking of which, columnist Greg Couch recently wrote an article, Florida State Needs to Suspend Quarterback Jameis Winston …, in which he said this:

This is the moment for Florida State when it answers the big question:  What do you stand for?  It’s an opportunity, really.  You do the right thing for the right reasons, and no matter the cost, you can look in the mirror later.  When you stand for something, it’s forever… Suspend Jameis Winston.   Now…    It’s the only thing to do for Florida State;  it must take a moral stand for football and society.  And if Florida State lets Winston play?  Then that makes a statement, too – a dangerous one. (E.A.)

Mr. Couch is right about two things.  There is a basic principle involved, and the idea that we as a people need to err on the side of caution – to chance letting 10 guilty people go unpunished rather than punish one innocent – is indeed a very dangerous proposition. (And a BTW:  Mr. Couch is in good company.  His sentiments were shared by Bismarck, the German dictator, and Pol Pot, the Communist leader of the Khmer Rouge, as noted below.) As it happens, I just wrote about modern-day witch hunts – and/or “vigilante justice” – in On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part I, and On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part II.  However, don’t think this is just about Jameis Winston.  (See also Witch–hunt – Wikipedia.) Think about Todd Gurley.  Think about Johnny Manziel.  Those three and others have one thing in common:  They are examples of the twin truisms that “destroying things is easier than building them,” and – as especially today – “the media loves to build somebody up then looks for something to take it away.”  (See It is easier to tear down than to build up – Idioms, and Butter for Paula Deen – Following Today Show, vis-a-vis another witch-hunt victim.) But let’s get back to William Blackstone’s dangerous truism, that it’s better to err on the side of caution when it comes to “convicting people.”   And don’t forget Deuteronomy 19:15-19:

One witness is not enough to convict anyone…   A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.   If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the …  judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony … then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party.  You must purge the evil from among you. (E.A.)

But again we digress…   We were talking about Blackstone’s dangerous idea. As Wikipedia noted, “the details of the ratio [may] change, but the message that government and the courts must err on the side of innocence is constant.”  See Blackstone’s formulation – Wikipedia, which added that the principle is much older than Blackstone, and in fact can be seen as early as Genesis 18:23-32.  (Noted in On arguing with God.) Wikipedia also noted the “12th-century legal theorist Maimonides, expounding on this passage as well as Exodus 23:7 (‘the innocent and righteous slay thou not’)” added this to the mix:

…executing an accused criminal on anything less than absolute certainty would progressively lead to convictions merely “according to the judge’s caprice.  Hence the Exalted One has shut this door” against the use of presumptive evidence, for “it is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.”

Wikipedia also noted “Sir John Fortescue‘s De Laudibus Legum Angliae (c. 1470),” and that in America, in 1692, “while decrying the Salem witch trials, Increase Mather adapted Fortescue’s statement and wrote, ‘It were better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that one Innocent Person should be Condemned.'”   And finally, Wikipedia noted this:

There are alternate theories:   More authoritarian personalities are supposed to have taken the opposite view; Bismarck is believed to have stated that “it is better that ten innocent men suffer than one guilty man escape;” and Pol Pot made similar remarks.

(Blackstone’s formulation.)   So what we have on the one hand is Mr. Couch saying FSU needs to “send a message.”  But unfortunately, that message would be:  “We don’t need to bother with finding the facts or with actual guilt.  A presumption of guilt is enough for some of us.”

On the other hand we have a bit of wisdom that’s been around for millenia – “thousands of years” – going back to the time of Abraham and lovingly “tweaked” by the likes of Moses, Maemonides, Sir John Fortescue, Increase Mather and Sir William Blackstone:

[Blackstone’s ] Commentaries on the Laws of England … is the best-known description of the doctrines of English law.  The work became the basis of university legal education in England and North America. He was knighted in 1770…  In the United States, the Commentaries influenced John Marshall, James Wilson, John Jay, John Adams, James Kent and Abraham Lincoln, and remain frequently cited in Supreme Court decisions.

But of course when it comes to who to believe, the choice is yours…

And there’s one final message, to Mr. Couch and others in the media like him:

Hey, I can pontificate too!

…and now?

 

The upper image is courtesy of Blackstone’s formulation.  The lower image is courtesy of Lynching – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (as another example of “vigilante justice,” as noted in the “Gone Girl” reviews noted above.)  The caption:  “September Massacres of 1792, in which Parisian mobs killed hundreds of royalist prisoners,” arguably in the old-time equivalent of a “media frenzy.”

(The other images – of lynchings and such – were too gory, while “September Massacres” provides an apt visual metaphor for a modern-day media frenzy…)

And a BTW: I wrote the bulk of this post before reading Jimbo Fisher not concerned over Jameis Winston, in which the coach said “this country is based on being innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven innocent.”    Which proves another truism: “Great minds think alike.” 

The final indented quote about Blackstone and his Commentaries was gleaned from William Blackstone – Wikipedia, and Sir William Blackstone (English jurist) — Encyclopedia ….

On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part II

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A 19th-century example of vigilante justice… 

 

 

Welcome to DORScribe, a blog about reading the Bible with an open mind.

In other words, this blog is different.   (For one thing it includes movie reviews like this to see how “old-timey” Biblical principles can apply to modern culture…)

But mostly this blog says you can get more out of the Bible by reading it with an open mind, and that it was written to liberate people, not shackle them in some kind of “spiritual straitjacket.”

Such ideas run contrary to some common perceptions these days.  For example:

I don’t have a problem with God.  I have a problem with religion.  I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith.

See 10 Questions for Sting – TIME.  (But here’s a news flash:  “If your religion makes you ‘certain,’ you’re missing the point!”  See for example, On a dame and a mystic.)

Sting’s comment gives one example of some common perceptions of Christians today:   1) that too many are close-minded; 2) that too many are way too negative; or 3) that too many Christians think The Faith of the Bible is all about getting you to follow their set of rules, on pain of you “going to hell.”  (See my way or the highway – Wiktionary.)

For more on such thoughts see About this Blog, which talks instead about the Three Great Promises of Jesus, to all people, and about how through those promises we can live full, rich lives of spiritual abundance and do greater miracles than Jesus, if only we open our minds…

 

In the meantime:

 We were talking about vigilante justice, as examined in the movie Gone Girl, and in the Biblical example of the Apostle Paul being nearly “lynched” by a group of rioters in Jerusalem.  (See On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part I.)

As noted, the Daily Office Readings for Saturday, October 11, included Acts 25:13-27, where Paul made his defense before the Roman governor Festus, along with “Agrippa the king” (who ruled as a puppet of Rome).  Again, this all started back when Paul arrived in Jerusalem after this third missionary journey, and got in trouble at the hands of certain “agitatators.”

That is – and as told back in Acts 21:27-32 – some members of the “powers that be” in Jerusalem saw Paul in the Temple accompanied by “infidels,” and totally misconstrued the situation:

They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us!  This is the man who … has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place…”  The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions.  Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple…  While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.  He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd.  When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Sound familiar?  (I mean, except for the part about soldiers rescuing a person accused of a heinous crime from an angry mob?)   And aside from that, there’s a BTW:  Paul had followed the law and purified both himself and his “guests” before entering the holy Temple.  So “the crowd” got it all wrong but didn’t let a trifling thing like the actual facts get in the way of a good riot.

The upshot was that Paul was arrested and made his defense in several tribunals, including the Sanhedrin, but when the Roman authorities learned that some of the rioters had hatched a plan to kill Paul, they had him taken to Caesarea, where – as noted – he eventually made his defense before Festus and King Agrippa, as told in Acts 25:13-2.

This was after Festus went to Jerusalem to consult Paul’s accusers, but as noted in Acts 25:3, “They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.”  But Festus – in a justified abundance of caution – had them come to Caesarea, where he (Festus) brought King Agrippa up to speed:

Festus discussed Paul’s case with the king.  He said: “There is a man here whom [former Roman governor] Felix left as a prisoner.  When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned.   I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.”

(Acts 25:14-16, emphasis added)   What a concept!  Having a person accused of a heinous crime being able to actually face the person accusing him, and be able to present a defense.  What will they think of next?   (See Sarcasm – Wikipedia, and/or Irony – Wikipedia.)

But seriously, there is cause for concern these days, as explored by the movie Gone Girl.   (And yes – in case I’m being too subtle – I am saying that such media frenzies and/or circuses are indeed a form of modern-day vigilantism…)

There’s a reason why we have things like the Sixth Amendment, which is supposed to guarantee that a person accused of a crime can only be convicted after a public trial “by an impartial jury … and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”  See Bill of Rights Institute: Bill of Rights.

And by the way, these aren’t “new-fangled pointy-headed liberal” legal protections.  They go back to the Bible times of Paul and beyond.  And there’s one big reason for this Biblical protection:  In way too many cases “the crowd” – or in today’s case the media – simply gets it all wrong, as shown in the image below.  But there’s another big lesson here:  the Bible was designed in large part to protect idiots from their own stupidity! 

That is, in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus said, “Judge not lest ye be judged.”   But more importantly, He added this, in Matthew 7:2 (NIV):  “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

So, if you’re prone to make snap judgments based on incomplete information from sources that aren’t always reliable – like today’s mass media – the chances are good that that’s the same method God will use in judging you.  (See also Karma – Wikipedia.)

Now, getting back to the movie being reviewed, Gone Girl:

I don’t want to give away the ironic plot twist or the ending, but here’s a hint:

 

 

The upper image is courtesy of Vigilante – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the full caption, “A lynching carried out by the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1856.”  The article added:

“Vigilante justice” is rationalized by the idea that adequate legal mechanisms for criminal punishment are either nonexistent or insufficient.  Vigilantes typically see the government as ineffective in enforcing the law; such individuals often claim to justify their actions as a fulfillment of the wishes of the community…   In a number of cases, vigilantism has involved targets with mistaken identities.

The lower image is courtesy Dewey Defeats Truman – Wikipedia: “‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ was a famously incorrect banner headline on the front page of the Chicago Tribune on November 3, 1948, the day after incumbent United States President Harry S. Truman won an upset victory over Republican challenger and Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey in the 1948 presidential election.”   The full caption:  “President-elect Truman holding the infamous issue of the Chicago Tribune, telling the press, ‘That ain’t the way I heard it!’”

 

As to the subtle difference between a media frenzy and a media circus, see also Media Frenzy Global, a company that apparently specializes in “frenzy manipulation:”

Whether you’re trying to pique interest, incite sales, stir the market, or fan the flames of controversy, one thing is certain – you need to cause a commotion.  Of course, you want to remain cool and composed in the midst of the excitement…   In other words, you want to harness the media frenzy…    We harness the media frenzy by controlling, managing and exploiting the media platforms…

All of which provides an interesting commentary on modern life.

See also Court of public opinion – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; “It has been said that the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse case attempted to try the case in the court of public opinion by making unsupported allegations to the media. In the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case, it was alleged that parties were using court pleadings as press releases.”

 

 

“Gone Girl” movie review and Media Frenzy

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A still from Gone Girl.   (Note the “askew”camera angle, symbolizing “media frenzy…”)

 

The movie Gone Girl explores the modern-day phenomenon of media frenzies, and how they can be manipulated by those apparently being manipulated…

As noted in On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part II, this blog is different for reasons including that it has movie reviews like this one, to see how “old-timey” Biblical principles can apply to modern culture.  There’s more on that below, but first let’s begin with this note:

Harry Truman didn’t have much use for the reporters of his day.

“Newspapermen, and they’re all a bunch of lazy cusses, once one of them writes something, the others rewrite it and rewrite it, and they keep right on doing it without ever stopping to find out if the first fellow was telling the truth or not.”

Truman also spoke of plowing a field with a mule as being the “most peaceful thing in the world,” an activity that gave old-time farmers plenty of time for thought.  (Guys like Thomas Jefferson…)   But – Truman added – “there’s some danger that you may, like the fella said, get kicked in the head by a mule and end up believing everything you read in the papers.”

Some 20 years later the president’s feelings were mirrored by a brash young “AFL” quarterback named Joe Namath.   Shortly after Joe signed with the Jets (for a record salary), a wise-guy New York reporter asked what he had majored in, down south at the University of Alabama; “Basket-weaving?”   Joe answered, “No man, I majored in journalism.  It was easier.”

Then in 2014 along came Gone Girl, a film that expresses pretty much the same feelings about “media frenzies” as Harry Truman and Joe Namath, only more so.

*   *   *   *

Which brings up the point that I – the Scribe – did movie reviews for the student newspaper, back in mid-1970s  when I was getting a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications.  It seemed like a good way to go on and make a living, doing two things that I loved; watching movies and writing about them.  But alas, God had other plans for me (that’s my story anyway), and you could say my life that followed had enough twists, turns and betrayals to be made into a movie like Gone Girl.   But my point – if I’m being too subtle – is that in the fullness of time, here I am again, writing in a venue (the blog) that didn’t exist back then.  Somehow it’s like “coming home.”

(Oh, and did I mention that I went on to get a Master’s degree in Journalism?)

*   *   *   *

So anyway, Wikipedia said that the film Gone Girl “examines dishonesty, the media, the economy’s effects on marriage, and appearances:”

On the day of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Affleck) returns home to find that his wife Amy (Pike), is missing.  In the ensuing media frenzy, suspicions arise that Nick murdered her, and his awkward behavior is interpreted as characteristic of a sociopath.

See Gone Girl (film) – Wikipedia (emphasis added).   In other words, the character Nick Dunne was tried in and by the media, who found him guilty, as so often happens these days.  But as it turned out, the process by which he was tried and convicted was “infected by the politicized, media-enabled ‘cult of victimhood.'”  (See the Rothman note below.)

Which in turn brings up the topic of the modern-day media frenzy or media circus:

Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype.  The term is meant to critique the media, usually negatively, by comparing it to a circus, and is considered an idiom as opposed to a literal observation.  Usage of the term in this sense became common in the 1970s.

See Media circus – Wikipedia.  All of which brings up the New Testament reading in the Daily Office for Saturday, October 11, Acts 25:13-27.  To bring you up to speed, after Paul arrived in Jerusalem after his third missionary journey, he suffered a “media circus” of his own, as shown below in the work by Gustave Dore.  He was arrested and later tried, first in Jerusalem and later in Caesarea, all of which makes for some interesting “compare and contrast.”

For more on that, see “On ‘Gone Girl’ and the Lazy Cusses – Part II.”

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Paul_Addresses_the_Crowd_After_His_Arrest_by_Gustave_Dor%C3%A9.jpg

 

The upper image is courtesy of What “Gone Girl” Is Really About, a review in The New Yorker, dated October 8, by Joshua Rothman, which includes this telling tidbit:

[W]e’re fascinated with stories of victimhood – and … especially in tabloid, cable-news culture, we endow victims with specialness, sanctity, and celebrity.   “Gone Girl” asks whether genuine expressions of sympathy or solidarity with victims can ever happen without being infected by the politicized, media-enabled “cult of victimhood.”

Rothman’s review compared the movie with “what I heard” about the book version, and concluded that what’s best about the movie is that it “gets at what is unsettling about coupledom [i.e., marriage or “serious relationships”] : our suspicion that, in some fundamental sense, it necessarily entails victimization.”  See also Gone Girl (film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  But as noted herein, Yours Truly thinks that the movie is really about the modern media and its role in contemporary “lynchings,” which to this point have generally been metaphoric.

For other reviews of the movie, see Gone Girl – Rotten Tomatoes.

The lower image is courtesy of Wikimedia and/or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Paul_Addresses_the_Crowd_After_His_Arrest_by_Gustave_Dor%C3%A9.jpg.  See also Gustave Doré – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 

The first quote on reporters is courtesy of Plain Speaking[:]  An oral biography of Harry S. Truman, by Merle Miller, Berkley Publishing NY (1973), at page 251.   The “field-mule” quote is at page 258.

The Namath quote is courtesy of famous alabama football quotes – Angelfire.  See also Joe Namath – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which noted that when Namath signed with the Jets, the NFL and AFL were separate leagues, engaged in a “bidding war” for college players.