What a Strange Story!

Deuteronomy 31:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2031&version=NIV

            Have you ever been struck by how good it is that the Lord is God and that we are not?  I found Deuteronomy 31 a little disturbing.  In it the Lord says, “Look, I know that Israel is going to fail.  I know they’re going to abandon me and I’m going to punish them.”  I don’t know what to make of a God who knows beforehand the trouble that His people are going to cause, but who chooses to do things His way anyway.

            When I teach the story of the Bible, I refer to God’s strange plan.  And it is a strange plan that from a rebellious people He will bring forth the One who will heal their rebellion, and not just theirs but the rebellion of the whole world.

            It’s even stranger than that, though.  I read a book called The Life of Pi a few years ago.  The main character was an Indian.  Raised a Hindu, he describes his first encounter with Christianity.  Listening to the story of our faith with Hindu ears captured its strangeness for me in a really fresh way.

            “And what a story.  The first thing that drew me in was disbelief.  What?  Humanity sins but it’s God’s Son who pays the price?  I tried to imagine Father [a zookeeper] saying to me, “Piscine, a lion slipped into the llama pen today and killed two llamas.  Yesterday another one killed a black buck.  Last week two of them ate the camel.  The week before it was painted storks and grey herons.  And who’s to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti?  The situation has become intolerable.  Something must be done.  I have decided that the only way the lions can atone for their sins is if I feed you to them.”

            “Yes, Father, that would be the right and logical thing to do.  Give me a moment to wash up.”

            “Hallelujah, my son.”

            “Hallelujah, Father.”

            What a downright weird story.  What peculiar psychology.

            I asked for another story, one that I might find more satisfying.  Surely this religion had more than one story in its bag—religions abound with stories.  But Father Martin made me understand that the stories that came before it—and there were many—were simply prologue to Christians.  Their religion had one Story, and to it they came back again and again, over and over.  It was story enough for them.”

The bit in question goes on for two more pages.  You can check it out of the library for yourself (Life of Pi, by Yann Martel).  My point is simply that our God has a unique approach to salvation, and it involves extending Himself through the agency of a rebellious people, just as He still extends His reign through humans, namely, His church.  The Lord knew Israel's weaknesses and brought salvation out of them anyhow; He knows our weaknesses and spreads salvation through us in spite of them.

Thoughts on Israel's Fate

Deuteronomy 30:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2030&version=NIV
            There are a lot of things to comment on in Deuteronomy 30.  First, I'd note an insight I gained from N. T. Wright, a New Testament scholar I really enjoy.  That insight is that Israel in Jesus' day thought that the exile had never really ended,  Sure, they had returned from their exile in Babylon, but they more most definitely not more prosperous than they had been when they left--even 600 years later!  Longing for the end of exile--that describes a deep dynamic that explains the life and hopes of Israel when Jesus came on the scene.
            A second thought is the hermeneutical one, that is, a thought about how to appropriately bring the story of Israel to bear on modern day, New Testament Christians.  Here's the key thing:  the scattering of Israel was a covenant curse.  Historically, Israel was scattered following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC as a result of their chronic breaching of the covenant by following other gods.  It wasn’t an absolute rejection of Israel.  The Lord kept a remnant in the land and brought a portion back from exile because His promise would be fulfilled through Israel.  (Not all Jews returned to the land.  A Jewish population remained in Babylon; another developed in Egypt; still others grew in Asia Minor and points west.)

            However, the scattering of Israel in the exile and beyond ceased to be the biblical story after the ministry of Jesus.  Then, it was the scattering of the church that mattered.  The church was not scattered as a punishment but as a mission strategy.  So, for example, everyone knows that the so-called Great Commission does not contain a command to go.  The word there is a participle:  ‘while you’re on your way’ is a better translation.  (I don’t know why the English translations make the choice they make.)  God’s people are scattered like seed throughout the earth to produce a great harvest for the kingdom.

            The gathering of Deuteronomy 30 has its historical fulfillment in 538 BC, when the first exile return to ruined Jerusalem.  But for the church, the gathering becomes an end-time event; the return to the land becomes the advent of the new heaven and new earth; and the circumcision of hearts—now by faith—becomes the reality of renewed lives in God’s good presence.  So, as I often point out, let's be careful with applying passages like Deuteronomy 30 to our national life in the US.
            Third, Paul cites Deuteronomy 30 in Romans 10.  It's a great passage about the necessity of preaching (you can read it here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%2010&version=NIV).  The thing that strikes me, though, is that Paul is not making a random defense of preaching; rather, that defense of preaching is embedded in a larger context (Romans 9-11) in which Paul is struggling with what went wrong with Israel that so many Jews were not prepared to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.  I suspect that part of the deep background of this passage is the fact of Israel's covenant unfaithfulness.  Someday I'll have to do more work on Romans 9-11 to see how this works out.

A Holy People--Dedicated to the Lord's Words

Deuteronomy 29:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2029&version=NIV

            There were two interesting turns-of-phrase in today’s reading.  The first was in Deuteronomy 29:10, “You are standing today—all of you—before the Lord your God.”  I found that interesting because of the common inclination to think that spiritual things belong to a more spiritual class of people.  I notice it all the time:  people seem to think that just because you’re a pastor you’ve got some sort of special prayer ability.  I don’t know if people think that the Lord listens more closely to well-spoken prayers, or if they think that pastors pray more than every other Christian, or if they think that clergy have a hotline to God—like he lets your prayers go to voicemail, but he gets mine on the direct line.  But here, the entire population of Israel (along with the foreigners living in their midst!) enters into the covenant; everyone stands before the Lord.  While the Church has a collective life, within that collective life, each one is called to stand individually with the Lord.  Classically, Lutherans have referred to this as the priesthood of all believers, the fact that every believer has the same standing, honor, and dignity before the Lord.

            The second turn of phrase is in verse 29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us.”  Lutherans make a theological distinction between what we call the Deus absonditus, that is, the hidden God, and the Deus revelatus, that is, the revealed God.  It’s a principle of our theology that God has not chosen to reveal every facet of Himself to us.  There are things that remain hidden in the mind of God, questions that we’ll never answer.  Think of the questions raised about conversion and salvation—why some are saved and others aren’t?  Think of the questions that tragedy raises—why would God let that happen?  Think of questions of timing—why does God delay?  Each of those is a question that the Lord has not answered.  On the other hand, the things that we are called to follow are those things that God has revealed in His Word.  His earnest desire to save humankind, the reality that not all will enjoy His presence for eternity, His sovereignty over all creation, His determined plan to work all things out for good—all of those we are bound to, even if we can’t answer all the questions they raise in our minds.

The 'Pool' the Prophets Fished In

Deuteronomy 28:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2028&version=NIV

            I’d invite you to re-read this chapter.  “Why?” you ask.  Re-read it because this language forms the pool from which the prophets will draw imagery about God’s judgment.  Isaiah, in particular, will fish in this pool.

            So, here is specifically covenantal language.  It is addressed to Israel, as a nation, as she is about to enter the next stage of her national existence.  If she keeps her end of the covenant, the Lord will bless her; if she doesn’t, the Lord will punish her—as a nation—with exile.  (Again, not to beat a dead horse, but these blessings and curses are stipulations of the Sinaitic covenant; they apply to Israel as the seedbed of God's promises; the application to our day or to any other nation calls for real care.) 700 years after Deuteronomy, Isaiah sees the disobedience piling up, and he sees in the Assyrians the working out of those national curses.  Isaiah also sees the days coming when Judah will face similar consequences because of her idolatry.  Many of his oracles of judgment (and many of his vision of restoration) have Deuteronomy 28 somewhere in the background.

            Now, here’s the thing.  Isaiah (and other prophets) often take blessings and curses specific to Israel and draw them into a larger eschatological framework.  That is, they see in the national fate of Israel an intimation, a foreshadowing, of the fate of God’s whole world.

            Christian reflection grabs that larger framework and runs it through Jesus, through Whom all of God’s plans and purpose of the world, are fulfilled.  Then, Christian reflection uses that same language and imagery to describe the ultimate fate of God’s whole world.  So Christian visions of judgment (and ultimate restoration) use these same images for the judgment and restoration of the world. 

            So re-read this chapter, because this is imagery that, while specific to the nation of OT Israel in this case, will find wider application in the reflection of what God ultimately has in mind for His creation, through Jesus.

Re-affirmation

            The scene that Moses describes in Deuteronomy 27ff. is a covenant renewal ceremony.  After Israel has gone into the land, they are to reaffirm their identity as God's people, His blessings to them, and their own loyalty to Him.
            As so often in the Old Testament, ‘mount’ is a little generous for Ebal and Gerizim.  According to one source Ebal rises about 1400 feet above the valley floor, and Gerizim rises several hundred feet over the same valley.  This is not  the Grand Canyon!  It is, though, a sort of natural amphitheater, with a fairly narrow valley framed by two sloping hills.  So, the picture we should have in our minds is the tribes of Israel arrayed on the slopes of the hills, filling in toward the valley floor.

            They’re arranged this way for a covenant renewal/affirmation ceremony.  They are, in a sense, summarizing who they are and affirming the consequences of disobedience to the covenant before them.  Their ‘Amens’ after each of the curses is sort of like signing and signing and signing when you get a loan or a mortgage.  Your signature says, “Yes, I agree to that stipulation.  Yes, I agree with that statement.  Yes, I agree that that’s a fair penalty if I default.”  The scene carries on for several chapters.
            Humans seem to need these reaffirmations.  Our sinfulness leads us astray and we need  constant reminders of who we are, Whose we are, and what we are supposed to be.  Christians do a similar thing in our regular recitation of the Creed.  If we were to use the Luther's order of Morning and Evening Prayer (http://www.cph.org/t-topic-catechism-dailyprayers.aspx), we'd find a reaffirmation in the sign of the cross, a reminder of our Baptism and God's claim on us as His adopted children.

A Just Society

Deuteronomy 24:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2024&version=NIV
            I have a feeling that most of the reaction to Deuteronomy 24 is going to center around the first few verses, namely, the prohibition on remarrying a former spouse.  And I have a feeling that that reaction is going to be looking for a reason for this prohibition.  Let me respond to those questions in two ways.  First, let me say, I don't know why this prohibition is in there.  I've performed a few marriages over the years in which the couple was coming back together after time apart, and I've found them blessed events.  This may be a case where we say, "I'm not going to get bogged down in the details of Moses' law," rejoice that we are not bound by all the specific regulations, and recognize that the principle--namely, the sanctity of marriage--is the important principle.
            I have a second response, too, and this one is a little snippy:  Let's not get so bogged down in the parts we don't understand that we miss what a remarkable chapter this is in terms of its concern for justice for the poor.  People who think that Moses is all hellfire and brimstone need to take a look at passages like this.  Acts of mercy abound:  newlyweds are not to be sent into battle; livelihoods are not to be endangered in greed; the dignity and needs of the indebted are to be considered; portions of crops are to be left behind for the poor.  You know, our world could stand those lessons!  I've performed many weddings in which no honeymoon was possible because there was no vacation time available.  We live in an age dominated by big banks and huge corporations and we hear all sorts of horror stories of the impersonal policies and practices that don't see human beings to be cared about but customers to be fleeced for as much as possible.  And don't get me started about the tragedy that a nation that produces food for the world has its own poor and starving!
            So, let's be fair to Moses.  On the one hand, there are parts of his law that we don't fully understand (although with a little imagination we can figure out some still-applicable principles).  On the other hand, there is a vision of a just society in parts of his law that ought to be the envy and the desire of the industrial West.

Pure and Helpful

Deuteronomy 22-23:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2022-23&version=NIV
           Deuteronomy 22 begins with the oddest collection of laws:  regulations about helping a neighbor with his livestock, regulation about cross-dressing, about eating birds, about mixing seeds, etc.  Let me suggest at least two underlying principles.
            First, there is a concern here for what Christians name sins of omission.  Christian theology actually has a whole vocabulary for sin, and we contemporary Christians might do well to recover it and use it more often.  So, the basic distinction is between original sin and actual sin.  Original sin is the corruption of our nature that we have inherited from Adam; it is the cause and source of actual sins. Actual sins are all those thoughts, words, and deeds which run contrary to the will of God.  Further, actual sin has two 'expressions:' sins of commission, in which we actively violate something the Lord has said, and sins of omission, in which we fail to do the good at hand.  Deuteronomy 22 and its command to take care of lost animals is a reminder, "Don't fail to help your neighbor."
            Second, there is a concern here for purity.  I doubt there's any great, deep significance to 'cross-dressing,' mixed crops, or mixed weave clothes.  But there is an underlying principle:  let things be what they are, and don't try to make one thing into another.  Why?  Well, because God made it what it is, for one thing.    And because it reminds you that you are one thing--God's holy people--and you shouldn't act like something else.

It Still Matters

Deuteronomy 20-21:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2020-21&version=NIV

            In the last couple of days' readings, there are at least two instances in which verses from Deuteronomy are quoted in the New Testament.  The principle of two witnesses (Deut. 19:15) is quoted by Jesus (Matt. 18:16), Paul (2 Cor. 13:1), and the writer of Hebrews (10:28).  Likewise, Paul grabs on to a verse from today’s reading—Deut. 21:23—and makes a huge theological point in Galatians 3:13.

            Now, both of those instances ‘work;’ there is no hermeneutical funny-business.  Jesus and Paul, especially, are using the ‘two witnesses’ principle in a discussion about confronting sin.  (The writer to the Hebrews has a little more of a stretch.)  And Paul’s use of the statement about being hung on a tree presents itself very clearly in Gal. 3, since he is talking about Jesus being cursed for being nailed to a tree.

            The thing that puzzles—amazes—me is that I’m not reading Deuteronomy that closesly.  The bit about cursedness and trees is tucked in regulation about firstborn sons, rebellious son, and lost oxen.  The bit about witnesses is tucked between cases of manslaughter, property markers, and the conduct of war.  I don’t know about you, but I read these things two and three times sometimes, because, really, we’ve been over this ground before, and I lose interest and focus.  Jesus and Paul did not lose focus.  They searched the Scriptures, looking for application, looking for hints of God’s plans and purposes.

            One of the themes of this blog has been that it is hard to appropriately apply the Scriptures—to do it in a way that is sensitive to their Christological center and that takes full account of their historical nature.  Yet, we see from the New Testament that our efforts aren’t wasted.  There is that moment of comprehension, that moment of connection, when we see the consistency of God’s Words—old and new, when we are rewarded with a new, hard-won insight into the character of God.

            I guess I’m just saying, “Keep at it, folks.”  We’ve been in the law of Moses for a long time (about 9 weeks, by my count), and I suspect that these last few days in Deuteronomy have been tough for you as they have been for me, because interest is flagging.  Keep at it.  Obscure as they may seem, these are still the words of God!
--reposted from March 16, 2011

A Prophet Like Moses

Deuteronomy 18-19:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deu%2018-19&version=NIV

            Commentators (well, evangelical commentators, anyway) widely understand Deuteronomy 18:15 as a messianic prophecy.  The expectation of the ‘second coming of Moses’ was current in Jesus’ day.  Someone even asked John the Baptizer if he was ‘the Prophet.’  It’s understandable that John was thought of like that:  after all, he summoned the people back to the Jordan, in a way enacting a new Exodus through the practice of baptism.  (John was a prophet of renewal, calling Israel to be faithful again to her history and to her identity as God’s treasured possession.)

            I find the progression of Matthew’s Gospel most interesting:  it begins with John’s call to repentance (Exodus), brings Jesus into the wilderness for trial and testing, specifically about whether He will trust the Lord’s purposes for Him (Israel in the wilderness), and the next thing we know, He’s on a mountain, teaching about identity in the Lord and the way that identity is lived out (Sermon on the Mount/Deuteronomy).  In other words, it sure seems that Matthew wants us to see Jesus as the ‘prophet like Moses.’

            Now, some care is called for.  Jesus is not a new lawgiver.  He’s the Savior, who fulfills Israel’s vocation on behalf of mankind.  Frankly, it’d be a disservice if we saw Moses only as a lawgiver!  I think it’s important that we keep this in mind:  Israel is not some law-driven, legalistic thing.  One of the themes we have uncovered throughout our reading of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) has been that Israel’s vocation, her calling—from Abraham onward—is to carry God’s promise of blessing for the nations to its completion.  The story of Israel is not primarily about laws and obscure regulation; it is primarily about the Lord setting aside a peculiar people to fulfill His promises to the world.
           Given our reading the last few months, it would be easy to see Israel only as a bunch of rules-bound legalists, a real "do this and live" kind of people.  That would mean losing sight of the promise to Abraham and the calling of Israel to be God's 'peculiar people' for the salvation of the world.  True, there were times in her history--a lot of them--when Israel lost track of her unique mission and acted like a bunch of rules-bound legalists.  But the presentation of Jesus as a prophet like Moses reminds us that there was always more going on with Israel than just 'rules.'  Salvation was always at stake in her life--salvation for all mankind.

Passover, Justice, and a King

Deuteronomoy 16-17:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%2016-17&version=NIV

            Deuteronomy 16-17 is another of those passages that covers several topics, and it has led me to these three reflections about Passover, justice, and kingship.

            First, there is this curious little phrase associate with the unleavened bread of Passover—bread of affliction.  I didn’t study it extensively, but my concordance tells me that this is the only place this particular form of the phrase occurs.  When we were in Exodus and bumped into unleavened bread the first time, I explained that bread with yeast appears to ‘bloat’ so there was some sense in which yeast was associated with decay.  That makes good sense of, say, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, in which yeast is associated with malice and wickedness.  Here, though, we have a different image.  Now, I’m just thinking out loud, but my experience with unleavened bread is that it’s kind of tough and hard to eat.   So, perhaps there’s a second aspect to the feast of unleavened bread—“You left in a hurry, and the bread you ate on the way out was like the slavery you were leaving—tough and hard to swallow.”  It’s not a bad thing to remember what we were (look at St. Paul in Eph. 2:1 or Col. 1:21); as a matter of fact, remembering what we once were sustains our joy in what we now are.

            The second thing that stood out for me today was 16:19-20:  “You shall not pervert justice.  You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.  Justice, and only justice, you shall follow.”  This call for impartial justice, to set things right according to the values of the Lord, is sharpened in 17:6, which declares that you need at least two witnesses.  It is sharpened even more by 17:7, namely, the witness has to be the first to throw a stone in punishment.  It’s one thing to work behind the scenes, to slander and besmirch, another; it’s a whole other thing to be the instrument of punishment.  It would take a pretty cold person to take part in the execution of another if one had exaggerated or made up one’s testimony against that person!

            Finally, I was struck by the fact that the Lord gave them permission to set up a king—like the other nations.  After all, in 1 Samuel, when they actually ask for a king, the Lord takes it as rejection of His reign (1 Sam. 8:7).  So, then, why does the Lord give them permission beforehand?  Perhaps it’s like parents and teenagers:  we know they’re going to make choices of which we don’t approve, but if we see it coming we can we can maybe mitigate the damage they do.  Imagine the conversation, “You want a tattoo?  Well, you’re 18; I can’t legally stop you, but maybe I can influence where you get it and how big it is . . .”  Or, “I can’t completely restrict the music that you’re listening to, but maybe I can keep you from embracing the worldview in those songs and keep you from listening to it so loud that you hurt your ears.”  It does seem an odd thing that the Lord would allow something He wasn’t pleased with, but I suppose that’s the price of human will:  He can’t make us act appropriately without destroying what He made us.  So, He says, “You’re probably going to want a king; make sure he’s one of you and that he follows my laws, ok?”
--reposted from March 14, 2011

The Urgency of Dispossession

Deuteronomy 11-12:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%2011-12&version=NIV

            Deuteronomy 11-12 offers more insight into why the Canaanites have to be completely dispossessed of the land, namely, the Canaanite religion will be a snare and a trap to Israel.

            Notice that Moses warns the people of Israel that Canaan is not like Egypt.  In Egypt, the crops were fed and watered by the rising of Nile; in Canaan, they are nourished by falling rain.  So, the Egyptian religion focused on the gods of the Nile, and the Canaanite religion focused on the god of the storm.  Now, when Israel, who lately had been slaves and historically had been herdsmen, settles in Canaan, they will have to learn how to work and farm this new land.  What would be more natural than to ask, “What do those who already work the land do to ensure good crops?”  The answer was obvious, “They worship Baal.”  I suppose it’s the same way in the modern West.  If we were to ask, “How do people today define and ensure prosperity?” the answer would have to do with the pursuit of the almighty buck, and we are certainly enticed to make that the center of our lives.  Anyhow, the Canaanites must go lest their ‘technology’ for farming entices the Israelites to idolatry.

            Further, the Canaanites have their religion diffused over the entire land.  Moses warns about high places that must be destroyed.  Israel is not to worship willy-nilly, each man as seems best and where seems best to him.  Israel has a clearly defined style of worship and a divinely designated place of worship.  The point—one of the points—is that Israel cannot just safely cordon off the Canaanites; the Canaanites influence is too insidious.  They and their idolatry must be driven out completely.

            So, two reasons are presented for getting rid of the Canaanites rather than co-existing with them:  the enticement of their religion and its insidiousness.

            Now, look, in the New Testament, the Church’s focus has shifted from Old Testament Israel’s.  We are not called to preserve the promise until its fulfillment; we are called to proclaim that the promise has been fulfilled.  So, it will not do for us to hunker down in our own sanitized and safe bunkers; Christians cannot be separatists from the world around us—not if we are going to be effective witnesses to that world.  We are going to have to risk contact—substantial contact—with the world.  On the other hand, the call for purity is still there.  But for us it’s a purity of heart.  The purification we need is a purification of heart, not of land, because each one of us carries Christ with us; we carry a  kernel of the land of promise wherever we go.

Gracious Despite It All

Deuteronomy 9-10:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%209-10&version=NIV

            I have two quick thoughts on Deuteronomy 9-10.  First, in case Israel missed it, Moses reminds them several times that the Lord is not giving them the land because of their righteousness.  (He says it like three or four times.)  Then, to drive the point home, he goes through the list of times that the Lord was so angry He thought about starting over—the golden calf and the first refusal to take the land figure prominently.

            The application is pretty obvious:  in case we missed it, the Lord did not save us because of our righteousness, either.  The Small Catechism says that all of this is ‘without any merit or worthiness’ in us (explanation of the 1^st Article of the Creed).  Nope, we done’ deserve any of it.  That is grace—a love that embraces even the unlovable, God’s love seeking the lost, even as they are in the process of running away.  “While we were still sinners,” Paul reminds us (Rom. 5), “Christ died for us.”

            The second thought is about the character of Israel’s (and our!) God.  In the midst of all the talk about God’s anger, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that the Lord shows no partiality, that He defends the cause of the defenseless, that He loves even the foreigner.  He establishes and disciplines Israel for the purpose of bringing His salvation into the world, a salvation He gives freely to Jew and Gentile alike (Rom. 1).  His Law always functions in service to His Gospel.

Credit Where It's Due

Deuteronomy 8:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%208&version=NIV

            Reading Deuteronomy 8, I was reminded of two incident sin Jesus’ life.  First, I was reminded of the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21); second, I was reminded of the healing of the 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19).  I was reminded of the parable because Moses warns Israel against taking credit for their own success in the land.  He is clear:  the Lord rescued you from Egypt, preserved you in the wilderness, and gave you a bountiful land.  His conclusion is simple:  don’t forget that and start acting like you accomplished things as your own.

            It’s pretty easy to make that mistake.  We do our research, work hard, weigh our decisions, plan our actions.  We are clearly involved in a lot of our own successes—deeply involved.  This is as it should be.  Sometimes we Christians are so keen on crediting God for our successes that we forget the responsibilities He has given us—responsibilities to faithfully use the gifts He’s given us.  That wheat and barley (v. 8) isn’t going to plant itself, and that iron and copper (v. 9) isn’t going to mine itself.  So, yeah, we’ve got our part to play.  However, we don’t want to go so far down the road of personal responsibility that we forget that there is a God behind us who deserves the credit for the opportunities, resources, and abilities with which we operate.  I like how Paul balances it in 1 Corinthians 3, “I planted; Apollos watered; God gave the growth.”

            So—parable of the rich fool—let’s not get so wrapped up in our accomplishments that we forget Who really made those accomplishments possible.

            And, let’s not be like those lepers.  There need was urgent.  They shouted and clamored for Jesus to have mercy on them.  And we know what that’s like:  nothing empowers prayer quite like acute need.  But with the passing of a crisis, that urgency passes, too.  Moses warns Israel not to forget to thank and praise their God when their circumstances are settled, and we could stand that reminder, too.  Just because we don’t detect ourselves in constant need of prayer, doesn’t mean that our God is not constantly working for our good.  Indeed, He always is working for us, so a thankful spirit is always appropriate.

The Utter Destruction of the Canaanites

Deuteronomy 7:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%207&version=NIV

            I suspect a lot of folks who read Deuteronomy 7 are troubled with thought that will trouble us for a while—at least through the book of Joshua.  Those thoughts regard the complete destruction of the Canaanites.  Isn’t this just the kind of thing that leads people to judge the Old Testament as all full of wrath and unexplainable brutality?  Let me suggest that this is a clear case in which we need to read the text not on 21^st century terms, but on Ancient Near Eastern terms—scratch that, we need to read it in terms of the overall biblical story.

            It seems to me that one of the first things we have to have clearly in mind, if we are to understand the destruction of the Canaanites, is where we stand in the story of God’s redemption of the world.  We are some 600 years after the Lord made Abraham’s family the trustee of that promise and some 1400-1500 years before it will come to fruition in Jesus.  Because we are in a place where the promise has not yet been fulfilled, and because we are dealing with the people through whom it will be fulfilled, we also have to see how important it is that the Lord keep Israel in the right kind of conditions to safeguard the promise that they bear.

            The Lord is fully aware that Israel is not a perfect custodian for His promises.  He’s been paying attention since Genesis 12:  He knows that Abraham, Jacob, and the people in the wilderness are susceptible to temptation.  And He knows that Israel in her new land, surrounded by that land’s idolatrous, and seemingly successful, occupants, will be under constant pressure to ‘succeed’ using the same techniques by which the natives have succeeded, namely, idol worship.  (In the ancient mind idolatry--and religion in general--is not so neatly a separate category of life.  Instead, in the ancient mind idolatry is almost a form of technology:  it’s by these religious practices that they believe have an impact on the fertility of the world around them as I talked about in Bible class a few weeks ago.)  Anyhow, the point is:  the Canaanites with their idols are going to be a temptation to Israel, and God needs Israel focused on Him so that He can bring His promise forth from their midst.  So, the Canaanites have to go.

            A second thing to take account of is the reality of judgment.  We appropriately cling to God’s grace—“The Lord, the Lord! Gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness” (Ex. 34:6, etc.).  But the fact is that the Lord proclaims both the Law, that is, a word of punishment, and the Gospel, that is, His word of forgiveness.  Like Egypt before them, the Canaanites remind us that not all come to reliance on Israel’s God.  Like Egypt, like Babylon later on, the Canaanites reminds us that God has enemies, enemies who are in collusion with the Enemy.  And he will punish those who are opposed to Him.

            Admittedly, this throws us right into the deep end of the theological pool.  If God desires all to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), how can some then be named His enemies?  Or worse, if God desires all to be saved, and rescues us, who were once numbered among enemies (Col 1:21), why does He not so rescue all His enemies?  Is God not earnest or is God not capable?  No wonder guys in my field call this the crux theologorum, the theologian’s cross!  We’ll never solve the tension between God’s earnest intentions and the recalcitrance of humanity, so the best we can do is take Him at His word about His intentions, declare those gracious intentions to the world, and let Him worry about how it all works out.

            I do know this:  it’s not terribly satisfying to say to the Lord, “I don’t get it, but you’re in charge.”  (I didn’t like saying that to my parents when I was a child, I don’t like it now with my God.)  But I also know that trying to make God fit your theological presuppositions means that you no longer have a God worthy of being called God.  If you domesticate God with your own presuppositions, you have created a false God, which unfortunately puts you closer to the Canaanites than is comfortable.  So, let God be God, take Him at His Word, and work earnestly so that those who are His enemies would come to faith and become His children.
            In summary, when we struggle with the seeming injustice in the case of the Canaanites, let's keep two things in mind.  First, let's keep in mind that God's grace does not negate God's own justice.  He is sincere in His offer of mercy and He is resolved in His threat of punishment.  Both are part of His word.  As a subpoint, let us focus our proclamation on His mercy in Jesus, and let Him worry about the punishments.  Second, let's keep in mind what was at stake in Israel's history.  The presence of the Canaanites threatened His intended mercy, which would come to fruition in Jesus many hundreds of years later, and for that reason the Canaanites had to go.  As one friend recently pointed out, the destruction of the Canaanites is also an aspect of God's mercy--by preparing the way for the ultimate fulfillment of God's plan of salvation.

What a God!

Deuteronomy 4:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%204&version=NIV

            Moses’ exhortation to the Israelites to be faithful needs to be heard with Moses’ main theme in the background:  “Who has a God like ours?”  Answer:  Nobody!  Who has a God who is so close to them?  Answer:  No one!  (Remember how Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal?  “Maybe he’s asleep; maybe he’s traveling; maybe he’s in the bathroom!”  But the Lord answered Elijah in the moment he asked.)  Who has a God who speaks out of fire and snatches one people from another?  You guessed it:  no one!  Furthermore, the God of Israel is the God who created man upon the earth.  Who else claims that?

            Against that backdrop, Moses calls for faithfulness:  don’t get yourself wrapped up in idol worship.  Don’t follow gods who are less than the God who called you.  Don’t abandon the One who is so absolutely unique from gods who aren’t really gods at all.  Perhaps most importantly, don’t abandon the God who has so loved you to place Himself in your midst and to rescue from the hand of the Egyptians.

            In New Testament terms, I reminded of 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are (NIV)”!  The NIV’s translation is a little free, but it captures the heart of it.  God hasn’t loved us just a little; He has loved us to the death of His Son.  It’s that free and generous gift that produces the kind of faith and love that honors the God who so loved us.

reposted from 3/3/11

Desiring a Goal, Enjoying a Process

Deuteronomy 3:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deut%203&version=NIV

            There’s a certain poignancy at the end of Deuteronomy 3.  The Lord had told Moses, “No promised land for you,” and that seemed to me to be the end of the story.  But Deuteronomy 3 shows that Moses really wanted to enter the land, pleading with the Lord to let Him see it and walk in it and experience it.  The Lord’s answer was a little harsh, “That’s enough out of you!” (I joked in Bible class recently that maybe it was a relief to Moses not to be responsible for Israel anymore, but his own words indicate that he really wanted to finish what he'd started with the Lord.)

            There are all sorts of  people who give themselves in a cause and don’t quite see it to conclusion:  generals who win the war but not the peace; leaders who muscle through crises but don’t enjoy the success on the other side.

            Here's an examples.  I always kind of liked General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner.  The things I read made him seem like a man who was pushing hard for the kind of changes that needed to be made for the corporation to succeed.  When GM posted a profit for the first time in a long time, you could have argued that that happened because they went through a controversial bankruptcy.  You could also have argued that the products that  brought them back to profitability were in the works because of Wagoner’s leadership.  Unfortunately, he was shown the door before his efforts bore fruit.

            Or, here's a fictional example.  At the end of The Lord of the Rings (the book, not the movie), Frodo, the hero, finds himself so deeply wounded by having carried the burden of the Ring that he can’t enjoy the peaceful resolution in the comfort of his newly freed and restored homeland.  It falls to his friend and companion, Sam, to enjoy the results of their work.

            Now, in Moses’ case, the poignancy is even greater for two reasons.  First, he had been faithfully laboring for the Lord’s purposes for 40 years.  It sure seems that one little mistake is all it took to cost him his shot at happiness.  Second, he prays a prayer that is denied right then and there:  “You will not cross over.”  That’s hard.

            Sometimes the reward has to be in the journey, not the arrival.  Not every prayer is answered like we’d like.  I wish I had the kind of faith that was content to follow the Lord without the longing to accomplish something, to enjoy His presence and His service without wondering when the blessing would come.  It’s tough to be a goal-oriented guy with a process-oriented God.

A Faithful God

Deuteronomy 2:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+2&version=NIV

            Deuteronomy 2 is a lesson in God’s faithfulness.  The Lord pulls no punches:  he was angry with the generation that came out of Egypt because of their refusal to enter the land He had promised, and His hand was against them (v. 15).  On the other hand, the Lord blessed Israel sufficiently in the wilderness that she was able to buy food from Edom and Moab (v. 7), and He gave her victory over King Sihon of Heshbon (v. 36).  I suppose none of that is terribly insightful.  The Lord is supposed to faithfully watch over Israel.  She’s His treasured possession, for pity’s sake!

            What is interesting is that the Lord specifically forbids war against Edom, Moab, and Ammon.  And what is even more interesting is why He forbids it.  The Lord forbids war against Edom because Edom consists of the descendants of Esau (v.5), and He forbids war against Moab and Ammon because they are descendants of Lot (vv.9, 19).  Esau was the son of Isaac who was not the child of promise.  Even apart from the younger son Jacob’s shenanigans to get his hands on the birthright, the Lord had said that the older would serve the younger (Gen. 25:23).  But the Lord recognizes Esau as a part of Abraham’s family and will not let Moses make war against him (even though that incident was more than 450 years in the past.)  Likewise, Lot was Abraham’s nephew.  He came with Abraham to the promised land, but made several bad choices—mostly in regard to living in Sodom.  Still, the Lord recognized him as part of the Abraham’s family (even these 600 years later).

            The Lord’s faithfulness is not just to Israel, as Israel.  His faithfulness is to Israel as the one through whom He would bless the nations.  As we come to stories in the Scriptures in which Israel is told to exterminate the Canaan populations, it is important to keep this larger picture in mind.  God’s purpose is the restoration of all mankind.  In some instances that means protecting Israel from the dangers posed by the false gods of the Canaanites.  In other instances it means demonstrating the length of His memory in regard to those who were or will become (Gal. 3:7) relatives of Abraham.
--reposted from 3/1/2011

Introducing Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 1:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%201&version=NIV

           The word “Deuteronomy” means “second law,” so the title of the book gives us some sense of what we’re in for.  We can expect three things in this book.  First, there will be some repetition of the specific laws that Israel is supposed to follow (especially in the middle of the book).  The second and third things we can expect are related to the fact that Deuteronomy takes the form of an extended pep talk, as Moses prepares to hand leadership over to Joshua and to steel Israel for the coming task of conquest.  So, the second thing we can expect in Deuteronomy is a review of Israel’s recent history, especially in their interactions with the Lord.  (That’s what we see in ch. 1, our reading for today.)  However, the third thing we see is that this retelling of their history is not just for historical knowledge but to motivate them to obedience and faithfulness to the covenant the Lord made with them.  For these reasons, we’ll see that the book of Deuteronomy is a bit more pointed in its presentation than we have seen.  Moses will be very blunt about the fact that Israel has not done a particularly good job up to now and that they have a lot on the line.  So, let's not get too distracted by the title, which would suggest this book is just a repetition of what's come before.  Let's try not to read it with a, "Here we go again," attitude.  Let's try to read more as an encouragement: "Let's get going!"

Settling

Numbers 32-34:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2032-34&version=NIV

            Reuben and Gad were ready to settle.  They saw the land on the east side of the Jordan, observed that it fit their needs very well, and were ready to stake a claim.  Moses sees it as an act of rebellion:  it’s just this refusal to fight that caused the 40 years in the wilderness!  A compromise is struck, and the fighting men of Gad and Reuben will fight alongside their brothers, but they will take as their inheritance the land across the Jordan.

            Seems to me that there’s a bit of connection to Christians and the Church.   Too often, we have a hard time thinking past our own interests.  You see it in discussions over worship:  I like this style, I like that style, I’ll stake my claim here, and you all do what you want.  You see it in a sort of Sunday only attachment:  “As long as my spiritual needs are met, I guess I don’t have any responsibilities to the Body beyond that.”  You can probably come up with other examples.

            Of course, thinking only of one’s own needs undermines the unity with which the Lord has knit us together in the Body of Christ.  It’s the kind of misalignment that can really damage what the Lord has in mind for His people.  The letter to the Ephesians is a sort of manifesto on Christian unity and in it we are brought to together and called to build each other up in word and deed.  Can’t hardly do that if you’re content to have your own needs served! 

            Israel was called to be a people who all together showed forth the power of the Lord and who all together demonstrated a national life that testified of their oneness in Him.  The Church bears a similar call.  True, we’re stripped of the national aspects, so we don’t have to conquer lands militarily.  Nor are we bound by the Mosaic laws.  But we are called to be a people who through our love and our oneness demonstrate what it means to be made in the image of a loving, forgiving God.

            Do take note of the fact that Moses let Reuben and Gad settle in the Trans-Jordan.  The Lord is sensitive to our needs.  But it would be wrong to be so content that our needs are met that we forgot to take into account the needs of others.
--revised from February, 2011