Sunday, October 19, 2014
How to Read Book of Genesis
These tools I am going to give you will help you to learn and to appreciate so much more than a surface reading of the book of Genesis. These same tools can be used for a deeper understanding of just about every book of the Bible.
BE PATIENT
One of the first and most obvious issues most people face in reading the book of Genesis is impatience.
A guy will read the book of Genesis and find little or nothing to relate to, so he moves on. Someone else likes stories, and so she likes the drama, but finds all the incest and violence strange.
I like to compare reading Genesis to a gold miner who works in his own mine. There is a lot of gold in the mine, but most of it can only be found through time and work The miner can settle for the pieces that are easy to reach, and most do. But with patience and the right tools the miner can and will find the mother load.
There is a lot to be discovered in Genesis, but to find the best material, you need to be patient and dig in.
CONNECT THE DOTS
Like much of the Bible, Genesis is best understood by connecting episodes. There are many episodes/stories in the book of Genesis that seem to have little to do with the ones following or the ones that went before, but in reality these are connected very much to each other.
Let me illustrate this. In Creation and several times later in the early chapters of Genesis God blesses people and tells them to go out and to multiply. Then to avoid in chapter eleven a group of people band together to avoid spreading out. The connections between all of these stories become obvious. God says spread out and man says "Let us build a tower so that we don't spread out."
Another connection that is lost to even some of the best of scholars is the connection between the tower of Babel and the call of Abraham. The people of Babel wanted a name for themselves, they wanted to avoid spreading out, and they wanted to reach the heavens. One chapter later, heaven reached down to Abraham and God told Abraham that if he went out (as the blessings mentioned above) God would make a name for Abraham. All the things that the people of Babel wanted, God gave to Abraham.
Another way to put this is with the word "context." Any Bible School worth its weight will tell the students to find the context for any verse. The same is just as true for story sections in the Bible. Every time you read a story section, you should ask what story went before it and what story goes after. Look into the stories before and after and see if there is anything that connects. Like a gold mine, dig in and find what can be extracted.
STEP INTO DIFFERENT SHOES
Most people make sense. When someone doesn't make sense, chances are, you are not digging deep enough into his/her story. Once you dig into someone's story you will begin to understand who they are and why they do what they do. This does not mean that everyone is right in what they do, it just means that you will understand better why they do the things they do.
This is true in real life as it is true in the Bible. Step into the shoes of Bible characters and you will begin to understand them in new ways. Certain characters jump out from the pages of the Bible such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and most readers gravitate toward them in order to But there were a lot of other people in Genesis who help make the entire book come alive.
Step into the shoes of Sarah to understand this point. Reread the every passage that mentions Sarah and put yourself in her world - put yourself in her shoes and ask a lot of questions such as who are the others in my life? What are they doing? Why are they acting like they are? Why are you doing what you do? And on and on. Eventually, you will find that her life makes sense and it won't make sense in the way you expected, because when you dig into the world of Sarah, you will discover a very unhappy woman on many levels. And...you will know some of the reasons why she was unhappy.
Step into the shoes of Hagar who was Sarah's maid and ask yourself what life was like from her point of view.
Stepping into the shoes of each character is one of the most powerful ways to dig into the mysteries of the book of Genesis.
CHANGE YOUR GLASSES
Perhaps the biggest hindrance in discovering what Genesis wants to say is that we all have preconceived notions and opinions about the book and about the people in the book.
Our notions and opinions about Genesis are created and designed by movies we see, preachers we hear and Sunday School teachers who taught us a surface view of each episode in Genesis that is filled with 21st Century assumptions about people and about heroes of the faith.
While these modern interpretations give us a glimpse into the events as they unfolded, they do not dig very deeply into the stories. Much of the humanity of each character in Genesis is lost and buried. Their humanity is covered up by our assumptions about people chosen by God, by our own values that we read into the characters and into their times, and by our opinions that we believe are God's own. In other words, we view Genesis through our own glasses.
In order to understand Genesis at its core, you must be willing to let your glasses change from time to time. You must be willing to see that some of your heroes were not always so heroic. You must be willing to see that the fathers of our faith were not above being human.
As I was talking about one of the characters in the book of Genesis, one of my students voiced her opinion that God would never use someone who was so less than perfect. She had the belief that heroes of the Bible lived a level of life that humans have never nor could ever live. She believed that the Fathers of our faith were holy, chosen by God and above reproach in every way. Now I would agree that the Fathers were holy and chosen by God; but they were not above reproach - and quite honestly, they were very human in every way. My student did not see things that way. The glasses she wore told her that saints lived in a special world, untouched by real temptations and unscathed by failure.
Many 21st Century interpreters of the Bible know that we need to take off their proverbial glasses in order to understand the Bible better; but the truth is, we are never without glasses. At best, we can change our proverbial glasses from time to time to better understand the Bible.
If you want to better understand the book of Genesis (or any other book in the Bible), don't be afraid to change your proverbial glasses to see what the book is really saying.
To put it all quite simply, let the stories of Genesis say what they were meant to say.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Abraham and Abimelek
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife
and his female slaves so they could have children again, for the LORD had kept all
the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife
Sarah.
Genesis 20:17
Abraham the Nomad
Abraham was the head of a small but wealthy nomadic tribe of people that included himself, his wife and a few servants. In two generations this tribe would grow to about seventy people who traveled from place to place looking for good places to feed their cattle.
When Abraham grew up he was in what was probably another nomadic tribe that had begun to settle down into a city. But as his father began to settle into a city called Ur, Abraham was called to move on from there and continue as the head of a nomadic clan that he would start.
Like most nomads, Abraham's parents did not trust outsiders and made sure he married someone they trusted from within his own family so he married his half sister.
The Agreement
Abraham's step sister (Sarah) was incredibly good looking and that created a problem for him. Abraham did not trust outsiders at all and believed they were filled with lust for his wife and quite capable of doing terrible things in order to steal his wife away from him. He believed that outsiders would kill him in order to take Sarah as their own; so he gave Sarah a story to tell everyone they met along their journey.
Abraham asked Sarah to tell people that she was his sister. That way if one of those lust filled outsiders wanted her they could take her without hurting Abraham.
The Event
When Abraham stopped in the city of Gerar to buy, sell, and trade, someone noticed Sarah and before long the head of the city (Abimelek) had taken her to be his own. But before Abimelek had sex with her he had a dream that informed him that he was as good as dead for taking another man's wife. This took Abimelek by surprise because he had no idea Sarah was married, so he told God that he was innocent. God accepted that and told Abimelek to go to Abraham and ask for prayer because Abraham was a prophet.
Bad Consequences
The
Reasons: The Bible tells us that Abraham concocted this scheme because
he was afraid. Abraham was a traveler who was vulnerable in that he
didn't know the people of the cities he visited. In every city he came
near, there were powerful people and perhaps many who were skilled in
combat. Fear drove him to make some bad decisions which only hurt other
people.
A psychologist may easily see another motivator in Abraham. His wife was barren and as long as he was tied to her, his dream of having children to carry on his name and to fulfill God's promise was in danger. There may have been subconscious desires to set up the possibility for another to steal her away from him which would leave him free to marry someone else. While Sarah may have had her suspicions in this area, and while it looks interestingly possible; the Bible itself does not suggest this as a possibility; and Genesis is not afraid to point out the problems of its heroes.
Abraham was the head of a small but wealthy nomadic tribe of people that included himself, his wife and a few servants. In two generations this tribe would grow to about seventy people who traveled from place to place looking for good places to feed their cattle.
When Abraham grew up he was in what was probably another nomadic tribe that had begun to settle down into a city. But as his father began to settle into a city called Ur, Abraham was called to move on from there and continue as the head of a nomadic clan that he would start.
Like most nomads, Abraham's parents did not trust outsiders and made sure he married someone they trusted from within his own family so he married his half sister.
The Agreement
Abraham's step sister (Sarah) was incredibly good looking and that created a problem for him. Abraham did not trust outsiders at all and believed they were filled with lust for his wife and quite capable of doing terrible things in order to steal his wife away from him. He believed that outsiders would kill him in order to take Sarah as their own; so he gave Sarah a story to tell everyone they met along their journey.
Abraham asked Sarah to tell people that she was his sister. That way if one of those lust filled outsiders wanted her they could take her without hurting Abraham.
The Event
When Abraham stopped in the city of Gerar to buy, sell, and trade, someone noticed Sarah and before long the head of the city (Abimelek) had taken her to be his own. But before Abimelek had sex with her he had a dream that informed him that he was as good as dead for taking another man's wife. This took Abimelek by surprise because he had no idea Sarah was married, so he told God that he was innocent. God accepted that and told Abimelek to go to Abraham and ask for prayer because Abraham was a prophet.
Bad Consequences
Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done
to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and
my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing
this (Genesis 20:9-10)?"
By allowing Sarah to be taken from him, Abraham set the city up for disaster.
While protecting himself, Abraham created a problem for Abimelek and his
entire house as the women in his household suddenly became as barren as
Sarah. None of the women - slave or free - could bear children while Sarah was
in his house. Sarah's inability to conceive became everyone else's
inability as well.
It is not possible to tell if Abimelek is only upset more because he had such a dire warning from God or if he was simply terrified by the thought of sleeping with another man's wife. I think it was both. Whatever the case would be, Abimelek strongly rebuked Abraham for his scheme, shaming Abraham and calling him to account for bringing such guilt on him and his people.
It is not possible to tell if Abimelek is only upset more because he had such a dire warning from God or if he was simply terrified by the thought of sleeping with another man's wife. I think it was both. Whatever the case would be, Abimelek strongly rebuked Abraham for his scheme, shaming Abraham and calling him to account for bringing such guilt on him and his people.
The Prayer
Abimelek was told by God in a dream that he needed to return Sarah to Abraham and then ask Abraham to pray for his household so that the women might be able to reproduce again. He was told by God that Abraham was a prophet and being a prophet, Abraham could pray for healing. So after letting Abraham know that he did a terrible thing that should not have been done, Abimelek asked him to pray for him and his household; and from that prayer the women in his house began to get pregnant again.
Thoughts
Abraham's Plan: Interestingly, God did not correct or chastise Abraham for his trickery. Instead, Abimelek was warned about Abraham and his wife, and as a result, he viewed Abraham as a powerful prophet.
This whole story tells me that God's anointing does not depend upon how holy or spiritual a person is; rather God anoints those He chooses for whatever reasons He decides - and those reasons are oftentimes beyond us. Some of the other early prophets did not have the highest of ethical standards, and yet their words stood the test of time. In particular, Balaam and the prophet who lied to another prophet (1 Kings 13) are classic examples of this.
The Healing: I find it curious that Abraham prayed for the healing of the problem that he created. It is also worthy of note that the ability to pray for healing was tied to Abraham's being a prophet. Were all prophets of this era considered healers?
Abimelek was told by God in a dream that he needed to return Sarah to Abraham and then ask Abraham to pray for his household so that the women might be able to reproduce again. He was told by God that Abraham was a prophet and being a prophet, Abraham could pray for healing. So after letting Abraham know that he did a terrible thing that should not have been done, Abimelek asked him to pray for him and his household; and from that prayer the women in his house began to get pregnant again.
Thoughts
Abraham's Plan: Interestingly, God did not correct or chastise Abraham for his trickery. Instead, Abimelek was warned about Abraham and his wife, and as a result, he viewed Abraham as a powerful prophet.
This whole story tells me that God's anointing does not depend upon how holy or spiritual a person is; rather God anoints those He chooses for whatever reasons He decides - and those reasons are oftentimes beyond us. Some of the other early prophets did not have the highest of ethical standards, and yet their words stood the test of time. In particular, Balaam and the prophet who lied to another prophet (1 Kings 13) are classic examples of this.
The Healing: I find it curious that Abraham prayed for the healing of the problem that he created. It is also worthy of note that the ability to pray for healing was tied to Abraham's being a prophet. Were all prophets of this era considered healers?
A psychologist may easily see another motivator in Abraham. His wife was barren and as long as he was tied to her, his dream of having children to carry on his name and to fulfill God's promise was in danger. There may have been subconscious desires to set up the possibility for another to steal her away from him which would leave him free to marry someone else. While Sarah may have had her suspicions in this area, and while it looks interestingly possible; the Bible itself does not suggest this as a possibility; and Genesis is not afraid to point out the problems of its heroes.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Why Many Evangelicals Don't Like the Movie Noah
I saw the movie Noah last night. I was hoping it would be better than it was. I read reviews about it having Watchers that helped Noah build the ark, and I got excited - thinking that this movie has done its homework.
When Jesus and his family lived in Galilee, they were taught from the Bible and other books which never made it into the Bible. For example, the Bible book of Jude (Jude was the brother of Jesus) quotes from one of those books called the Book of Enoch. When Jude quoted from Enoch, he quoted a passage that was near to (and in context with) chapters explaining Noah's world and a group of fallen angels called Watchers who were also known as the "sons of God" in Genesis 6.
Originally, God gave these Watchers the task of looking over the well-being of humanity; but they were self centered and came to earth because they lusted after women of this world. On earth they taught people how to war and how to use make-up. In other words, they were the ones who opened up the secrets and possibilities of progress to humanity.
While teaching the nations how to progress, they had sex with the women they lusted after; and these women gave birth to giants (called Nephalim who created an enormous amount of violence, death and destruction in the world). For doing this, God doomed the Watchers to eternal destruction.
In the book of Enoch, Noah was called to put an end to the destruction by building an ark and you know the rest of that story.
So when I heard there were Watchers in the movie Noah, I was thinking, this is going to be awesome! I was hoping that this movie would flesh out these Watchers and Nephalim as the book of Enoch viewed them. But there were no Nephalim in the movie and the Watchers were like a bunch of Transformers who turned into rocks. I was disappointed.
I like movies that are creative, that make me think, and that are entertaining. The movie Noah was somewhat creative, but most of the awesome special effects were in the trailer. The movie did make me think about a few things: such as the possibility of Noah getting drunk to escape haunting memories of a world and the people he left behind that perished; and I realized that maybe Watchers were more concerned about the well-being of humanity than I had previously thought.
Many films about Jesus and about Bible characters are boring and lifeless. The characters in many Bible movies have little or no personality. I think movie makers are afraid to give them personalities for fear of putting something into the characters that is not in the Bible. The Noah movie gives the characters good sized personalities... personalities that I didn't always like. As a character, Noah was okay for awhile, but in time he became an environmental and animal rights fanatic for God.
I don't know if the movie was trying to turn us against environmentalists or conservatives. While Noah tells us the importance of protecting and taking care of the environment, and the evil man Tubal-Cain talks like a conservative who wants to take control of creation (as Genesis 1 commands), In the end, Noah becomes the fanatical environmentalist who feels that it is his duty to kill humanity to protect the rest of creation.
People who make a big deal about God's name not being mentioned in the movie should lighten up. Over and over again God was called the Creator and I liked that, and actually preferred that. The name of God in and among the Jews is sacred and not to be mentioned. Besides, Seth did say that the Creator was God in one scene.
What happens to the Watchers in the movie was awesome, and very touching; but I won't give that away. The overall message was okay but not all that enlightening or powerful - that mercy, love, and compassion should be our rule rather than violence.
BIBLE THEMES OUTSIDE OF THE STORY OF NOAH
Look for these themes:
1. The barren woman miraculously conceives and gives birth (think of Sarah, Samuel's and John the Baptist's mothers).
2. The child is offered and then spared as a sacrifice to God (think Abraham and Isaac).
3. Justice and mercy are the core values to religion.
4. Ham is tempted by a tempter just like Adam and Eve, and acts out with the results that look a lot like Cain.
5. Genesis chapter one - "Dominate creation and control it" vs. Genesis 2 - "Take care of the garden," upgraded to "take care of the earth" after the fall.
WHY THE MOVIE'S NOAH WAS SUCH A JERK
When I watched the movie, I was taken back with Noah's extreme dedication to the notion that God wanted to destroy any possibility of humanity's future. As I understand it, the idea comes from the belief in some Jewish circles that by being so obedient to the Creator, he was at fault. On the surface, this looks close to blasphemy, but at closer look, there is something to this.
The Lord told Abraham that he was going to destroy a wicked city and Abraham would not accept it, but rather argued with the Lord until he (Abraham) was convinced that he had saved the city. Of course, we know that he was wrong in that assumption. Moses refused to accept God's plan and will to destroy the people of Israel in the desert and argued with God until God backed off from his plans. Three times, God told Jeremiah to stop praying for the people of Judah. The fact that God had to tell him three times implies that Jeremiah was outright disobeying God by continuing in prayer.
The prophets of Israel and Judah were called to take the side of the people against the Creator. They were the lawyers for the people - the same people that God took to court wanting to destroy, but Noah was a bad lawyer and said nothing to protect his client. As a lawyer for the people, he failed. He did not plead for the people, but silently obeyed God, leaving the people to their punishment. The movie Noah builds on Noah's blind obedience and pushes it to an uncomfortable extreme.
Generally speaking, Evangelicals believe very strongly in obeying God no matter what and wrestling with God is foreign to many of them. Israel's heroes often argued and wrestled with God. Maybe, as Evangelical Christians, we should look more into this.
Also, generally speaking, Evangelicals hold Bible characters as heroes of the faith and above reproach. It is difficult for many of them to see their Bible heroes as human beings who had faults (This is true for cultural, religious and historical heroes outside of the Bible as well). Nevertheless, others believe that God used people with a lot of faults. The movie Noah shows what the producer / writer believed Noah to be - an obedient servant to God who took obedience to an extreme and was not willing to argue on behalf of the people.
When Jesus and his family lived in Galilee, they were taught from the Bible and other books which never made it into the Bible. For example, the Bible book of Jude (Jude was the brother of Jesus) quotes from one of those books called the Book of Enoch. When Jude quoted from Enoch, he quoted a passage that was near to (and in context with) chapters explaining Noah's world and a group of fallen angels called Watchers who were also known as the "sons of God" in Genesis 6.
Originally, God gave these Watchers the task of looking over the well-being of humanity; but they were self centered and came to earth because they lusted after women of this world. On earth they taught people how to war and how to use make-up. In other words, they were the ones who opened up the secrets and possibilities of progress to humanity.
While teaching the nations how to progress, they had sex with the women they lusted after; and these women gave birth to giants (called Nephalim who created an enormous amount of violence, death and destruction in the world). For doing this, God doomed the Watchers to eternal destruction.
In the book of Enoch, Noah was called to put an end to the destruction by building an ark and you know the rest of that story.
So when I heard there were Watchers in the movie Noah, I was thinking, this is going to be awesome! I was hoping that this movie would flesh out these Watchers and Nephalim as the book of Enoch viewed them. But there were no Nephalim in the movie and the Watchers were like a bunch of Transformers who turned into rocks. I was disappointed.
I like movies that are creative, that make me think, and that are entertaining. The movie Noah was somewhat creative, but most of the awesome special effects were in the trailer. The movie did make me think about a few things: such as the possibility of Noah getting drunk to escape haunting memories of a world and the people he left behind that perished; and I realized that maybe Watchers were more concerned about the well-being of humanity than I had previously thought.
Many films about Jesus and about Bible characters are boring and lifeless. The characters in many Bible movies have little or no personality. I think movie makers are afraid to give them personalities for fear of putting something into the characters that is not in the Bible. The Noah movie gives the characters good sized personalities... personalities that I didn't always like. As a character, Noah was okay for awhile, but in time he became an environmental and animal rights fanatic for God.
I don't know if the movie was trying to turn us against environmentalists or conservatives. While Noah tells us the importance of protecting and taking care of the environment, and the evil man Tubal-Cain talks like a conservative who wants to take control of creation (as Genesis 1 commands), In the end, Noah becomes the fanatical environmentalist who feels that it is his duty to kill humanity to protect the rest of creation.
People who make a big deal about God's name not being mentioned in the movie should lighten up. Over and over again God was called the Creator and I liked that, and actually preferred that. The name of God in and among the Jews is sacred and not to be mentioned. Besides, Seth did say that the Creator was God in one scene.
What happens to the Watchers in the movie was awesome, and very touching; but I won't give that away. The overall message was okay but not all that enlightening or powerful - that mercy, love, and compassion should be our rule rather than violence.
BIBLE THEMES OUTSIDE OF THE STORY OF NOAH
Look for these themes:
1. The barren woman miraculously conceives and gives birth (think of Sarah, Samuel's and John the Baptist's mothers).
2. The child is offered and then spared as a sacrifice to God (think Abraham and Isaac).
3. Justice and mercy are the core values to religion.
4. Ham is tempted by a tempter just like Adam and Eve, and acts out with the results that look a lot like Cain.
5. Genesis chapter one - "Dominate creation and control it" vs. Genesis 2 - "Take care of the garden," upgraded to "take care of the earth" after the fall.
WHY THE MOVIE'S NOAH WAS SUCH A JERK
When I watched the movie, I was taken back with Noah's extreme dedication to the notion that God wanted to destroy any possibility of humanity's future. As I understand it, the idea comes from the belief in some Jewish circles that by being so obedient to the Creator, he was at fault. On the surface, this looks close to blasphemy, but at closer look, there is something to this.
The Lord told Abraham that he was going to destroy a wicked city and Abraham would not accept it, but rather argued with the Lord until he (Abraham) was convinced that he had saved the city. Of course, we know that he was wrong in that assumption. Moses refused to accept God's plan and will to destroy the people of Israel in the desert and argued with God until God backed off from his plans. Three times, God told Jeremiah to stop praying for the people of Judah. The fact that God had to tell him three times implies that Jeremiah was outright disobeying God by continuing in prayer.
The prophets of Israel and Judah were called to take the side of the people against the Creator. They were the lawyers for the people - the same people that God took to court wanting to destroy, but Noah was a bad lawyer and said nothing to protect his client. As a lawyer for the people, he failed. He did not plead for the people, but silently obeyed God, leaving the people to their punishment. The movie Noah builds on Noah's blind obedience and pushes it to an uncomfortable extreme.
Generally speaking, Evangelicals believe very strongly in obeying God no matter what and wrestling with God is foreign to many of them. Israel's heroes often argued and wrestled with God. Maybe, as Evangelical Christians, we should look more into this.
Also, generally speaking, Evangelicals hold Bible characters as heroes of the faith and above reproach. It is difficult for many of them to see their Bible heroes as human beings who had faults (This is true for cultural, religious and historical heroes outside of the Bible as well). Nevertheless, others believe that God used people with a lot of faults. The movie Noah shows what the producer / writer believed Noah to be - an obedient servant to God who took obedience to an extreme and was not willing to argue on behalf of the people.
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