As I draw near to the end of my Old Testament class, I am excited to consider how this experience will be used in my ministry in the future.  As director of Spiritual Formation for my congregation, I have several avenues in which this material will be of great benefit.  I will list them here.

1.  Worship.  I have already had an opportunity to share my takeaways from our study of the lament psalms.  I preached two services this past Sunday based upon Brueggemann’s “The Costly Loss of Lament,” framework.  It was good in that many shared with me a gratitude for having been given the freedom to “lament” in worship along with addressing their true emotions.  It was very well received by several in my congregation.  I intend to work with my senior pastor and worship leader to incorporate more opportunities to experience worship in non-traditional ways in the coming year because people are always looking for alternative ways to connect and experience God’s presence.
2. MLK Weekend.  I already have a sermon planned for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend 2018 based upon the work we did with the Letter from the Birmingham Jail.  The annotated letter, along with the work with the Book of Amos, I believe, will give me a great start to helping my  congregation to engage with an issue that is still just as relevant today as it was 5o years ago.  As well, my church is in the heart of Birmingham, AL , which I believe will make it even more real for our hearers.  However, without this course, I would have never made the Amos connection.  So I believe my congregants will find it most interesting since many of them have never even heard of Amos!  (But really, who has outside of seminary??)  So good stuff!
3.   Sermon Series.  As well, I like the idea of creating a few (maybe a series) of sermons that truly get into the messages of the prophets.  Only with this course have I come to truly understand the different messages.  Economics vs. Social Justice vs. Religious Issues – all relevant today if we take the time to understand their points.  I normally only have the opportunity to preach 4-5 times a year, but I think people would enjoy those messages.  My congregation loves “learning something they have never heard before” concerning biblical culture, history, politics, etc.  And to learn that the prophets were addressing different social and cultural issues would maybe bring life to a part of the Bible that most folks have never studied before.  Sure did for me!
4. Disciple Bible Study.  I normally teach a “Disciple Bible Study” course during the school year on Wednesday nights.  I am heavily considering leading Disciple III in the fall which deals specifically with the prophets during the monarchical period.  I have never felt equipped to lead this particular study because of my lack of knowledge regarding the time period and the prophets’ culture in general.  I look very much forward to engaging this material more deeply in order to truly learn more about it, but also to be able to present it in the classroom with as much value added as possible.  Out of all the “Disciples,” this is the one that most people avoid.  I am hoping to create some excitement around it!
5. Sunday Morning Curriculum.  I also teach a Sunday Morning class on complete scripture study.  I have always created my own curriculum.  I have a couple ideas that I am going to pray over and submit to the class for a vote.  One is a study of the Davidic Dynasty.  Our study of the Judaean Royal Prophecy along with the Deuteronomist theory would make such an interesting study if we read through the scriptural stories that most people are familiar with.   The second would be a study of the Post-Exile period including Ezra, Nehemiah, the second Deuteronomistic redaction and the associated prophets.  The point being, trying to bridge the gap between the exile and the period of the New Testament.  Why did those temple authorities hate Jesus so much??  Interesting for me for sure, but I am quite certain that particular class would enjoy those conversations also.
6. Big Ideas and Essential Questions.  I am slated this summer to work on a team inside my church to create a two-year scope curriculum that will better prepare our 4th & 5th grade students for confirmation in the 6th grade.  Our confirmation process lasts for an entire school year, and we have identified many weaknesses in their complete understanding of the major themes of the Bible.  This is our number 1 priority, to give as much understanding to those children as possible regarding the nature of God, the importance of their decision, the meaning of grace, etc…  Having become accustomed to thinking in terms of “Big Ideas and Essential Questions,” this framework will be most beneficial to me in beginning the outline process for that project.

Finally, I really enjoyed the extra resources coming out of the Bible Odyssey site.  I can using that site quite often in the future as a research vehicle that is easily accessible and easily digested when one has specific questions and specific topics to research.  Each speaker was top-notch.

Overall, I loved the course, learned tons, and am always looking for ministry applications inside my classroom work.  I have definitely walked away with much usable content for my congregation and I am so thankful for it.  Way to go OOTLE!!  And big thanks to Dr. Lester and Sun-Ah Kang for making it such a fun and enjoyable experience!!

 Trust. Which ancestral stories relate to the issue of trust in divine promises? List some specific episodes that stand out in your mind that have to do with issues of belief, trust, and faith. What developments can you trace in the growth and quality of the ancestors’ trust?

When discussing the issue of trust in the Book of Genesis, most Christians can immediately discuss Abraham, his call and his trust in God during its fulfillment.  We are raised on such beliefs as Abraham’s faith and his judgment as righteous because of it.  However, it is quite an undertaking to track the growth of Abraham’s trust in God over his journey to Canaan.  But in looking closely at his responses and decisions in some of the lesser discussed stories of his life, it is pretty clear to see that the Abraham we admire and hope to emulate is a very “spiritually evolved” version of the man that started off on that initial journey.

Even though an old man when setting off, we can almost feel a youthful exuberance as Abram packs up his family and begins his trek west, with only the Lord as his guide.  He did so without hesitation (Genesis 12:4.)

However, it did not take long for his trust in God to falter.  Even though God has promised him much, Abram falls victim to fear of being killed by Pharaoh and passes his wife off as his sister in order to save his own life.  Maybe his faith isn’t so strong after all (Bandstra, p. 82).

But I have to hand it to Abram.  God’s promises were so slow in coming that it would have been understandable for him just to give up and head back to Haran.  However, Abram didn’t run home.  He stuck it out with God.  For over twenty years Abram and Sarah wandered that foreign land waiting for God to act.  And there are multiple examples of how his trust in God deepens and develops.

“In a fit of generosity and evidently also a show of faith, Abraham allowed Lot to choose where he wished to be. Lot chose the well-watered Jordan valley. In response, God reiterated to Abraham his promises of land and offspring (13:14–17), and Abraham moved to the Hebron area.” (Bandstra, p. 83.)

Consider it, here Abraham was, the elder, giving the choice of land (promised to him by God, we remember) to his young nephew.  Israel, as I understand it, is a barren, desert place in most instances.  Of course Lot chose the best land for himself.  But Abraham graciously gave it to him without thought of how he would feed his own flocks and household.  This exhibits a great amount of trust in the promises of God, in my opinion.  Abraham has faith that God will protect and provide for him.  Let Lot have the best of the land.  Lot didn’t have Elohim watching out for him….

Another episode in the saga of Abraham that doesn’t get much attention is the subsequent command by God that all Abraham’s male family members be circumcised.  I have never understood the required act of circumcision until now.  In reading Bandstra’s explanation, I can see where even participating in the act itself was a great leap of faith for each Jewish father.  Think of it, one slip of the hand, an infection from and unclean instrument and BAM! No more offspring. The promise of God is rendered null and void.

“Circumcision established itself within Judaism as a distinctive mark of covenant commitment. Sealing the covenant by circumcising the organ of procreation with a knife, with its implied threat of sterility, has the effect of symbolically handing over the possibility of offspring to the grace of God. By practicing the rite from generation to generation, the Israelites almost literally placed their future into the hands of the God of covenant.” (Bandstra, p. 88.)

This event also is evidence of a growing trust Abraham has with God.  By accepting the circumcision covenant, their relationship moves from a type of charter covenant (in which God makes the promise, and Abraham is required to do nothing in return,)  to an agreement more of equals (or a treaty covenant,) in which Abraham now has requirements and responsibilities in the relationship (Bandstra, p. 86.)

I believe it requires much more trust to agree to this type of arrangement (with the negative consequences of a broken promise,) than it does just to simply accept the gift God is offering.  It is the kind of agreement one enters in to when the other entity is well known.  This demonstrates the growth of the relationship between God and Abraham over the years.

The pinnacle of the Abraham Cycle, as well as the climax of the relationship between Abraham and the Lord is found in Genesis chapter 22.  We see Abraham expressing a true and unwavering trust in God as he follows God’s instructions to offer Isaac as his sacrifice.

I have always struggled with the idea that a parent would willing sacrifice his own child.  Regardless of my love for God, I believe that I would turn away from God before hurting my own child.  Why?  Because I love my children more than I can say.

So I was greatly intrigued by the following statement made by Ellen Davis:

“what is at stake is not obedience merely but total mutual trust. The point of the test is to see whether Abraham trusts God even to the point of relinquishing the child on whom the blessing, the covenant, and his own happiness depend. Abraham’s fear of God is a condition of complete vulnerability before God, “costing not less than everything” (T. S. Eliot);”

Ellen F. Davis; The Binding of Issac

 According to Davis, Abraham was attached to Isaac, not only through parental love, but also because Isaac was the living embodiment of God’s promise.  All Abraham’s hope and life’s striving was tied up in Isaac.  And by sacrificing him, Abraham stood to lose more than a son.  He would be losing everything he had ever trusted God for.

My only answer to this is that Abraham had to be trusting God for something greater. What other possibility was there?  Whereas, I would look at the loss of Isaac as the end of my covenant with a God that doesn’t keep his promises, it occurs to me that Abraham had to look at the situation as the next step in his journey with a faithful and trustworthy God.  Only after spending years of daily trust in God could he have made that decision.  Only after years of seeing God at work and coming to understand his nature, could he make that walk up the mountain without question.

He had become a different man than the one that began the journey with God a lifetime ago in Haran.  And by reading his story can we have the faith to trust in God and take our own journey into our promised future.

In our study of the origins of the Torah, we have been given the task to formulate a creation story that coincides more with other sources from the Old Testament than with Genesis 1 and 2, (for example: The Psalms, Job and Isaiah.)   As we look closely at these passages, we see elements of a narrative that are very different from what we see in Genesis.  We see chaos, war, and a violent beginning to the ordered world as opposed to our traditional understanding of a well-planned execution by God (Stanley, p. 212.)

Why would the Bible hold any differences in this story?  I was as shocked as any to encounter what seems to be, contrary, statements within the Old Testament.  It helps to understand that the Pentateuch (or first five books of the Bible) is actually a compilation narrative with stories from at least 4 different sources:

E – The Elohist;

J – The Yawist;

P – The Priestly Writer; and

D –  The Deuteronomist Historian

It is believed that creation stories were recorded during the Babylonian Exile period by the Priestly Writer (Lecture.)  This setting gives rise to the theory of why we have contradicting information regarding the story.  A couple of proposed reasons for the contradictions are:

1. It was a response to a similar story, the Enuma Elish, found in the Babylonian culture.  In their story, the pagan god, Marduk was credited with creation.  In our Genesis version, we see a similar tale, however, Yahweh is given center-stage and all the credit for the creation.  Perhaps this story was the writer’s way of assuring the Jewish exiles that their God was the creator of the universe and still in control of their destiny. (Stanley, p. 213.)
2. The Priestly Writer could have also used this narrative to express God’s unending concern and care for His people, even in the midst of great trials.  His ability to bring order to chaos might have been a great comfort to a people whose world was turned upside down (Stanley, p. 214.)

As we examine the ideas that multiple sources were used to create the Pentateuch, the most compelling idea I have found was shared by Jean-Louis Ska in his video, “Formation of the Pentateuch”:

“The image I use is the image of a city that was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt after an earthquake.  The earthquake is the exile.  Some buildings survived the earthquake, some did not survive, so some buildings are very old, some are completely new because they were built after the earthquake, and some buildings are mixed buildings, because they reused old elements that were integrated into newer buildings.  I would say, with this image we have, perhaps, a way of entering into the world of the Pentateuch and the world of modern scholarship about the Pentateuch.”

The image of using both the old and the new to create something of order and beauty makes sense to me.  I will look at the these writings differently  from now on into the future.

My Creation Story

There was unrest among the divine council.  The earth was filled with tumult and disorder.  Who was to blame?  The enemy of all creation, the great dragon Rahab.  The One exalted above all others rose up to confront this evil.

God raged throughout heaven, searching for his nemesis, Rahab.  This mighty dragon ruled the earth with fear and chaos.  God tore apart the mountains, and shook the earth from its foundations, subduing Rahab and her armies (Job 9:4-14.)  In His quest, he ripped apart the earth and unleashed the springs and waters of the deep along the surface. (Psalm 74:12-17.)

The Lord chased Rahab across the sky on his chariot, flames blazing from his wings.  The dragon fled to the seas of earth, creating much tumult.  As God pursued her, the thunder from his presence rebuked the waters, and the seas expelled her.   (Psalm 104:1-9.)  He crushed her and her forces, thereby restoring order and harmony to the earth.  (Psalm 89:8-10)

Our God is strong and mighty.  The winds and the waters obey him.  Fire and wrath accompany him everywhere he goes.  We fear our God, for he holds the power to destroy as well as bring order.  Oh praise to Elohim, for He is holy.  Who can stand in His presence without being consumed?

In studying the narrative from Judges, 19:1 – 21:25, we find a horribly disturbing story of torture, murder, seeming indifference, and revenge.  Could civilized people really behave this way?  As we analyze the different elements of the story, we find support for the theory that the story has been embellished by the writer.  Although this seems strange to modern readers, Carol Meyers helps us to understand the motivation behind such works:

“Like other ancient storytellers, the shapers of biblical narratives were not concerned with getting it factually right; rather, their aim was to make an important point. Their narratives could serve many different purposes, all relevant to their own time periods and the audiences they were addressing. They might take a popular legend and embellish it further—the better the story, the more likely that people would listen and learn. They used a variety of sources plus their own creative imaginations to shape their stories.”

What would you say is the central message or theme of the story? What purposes would the story have served for the people who preserved it and told it in ancient Israel?

The central theme of this story, in my view, is “Israel sticks together.”  This means that, as long as you are an Israelite male, you can count on your brothers to defend you, and avenge you when you have been wronged.  Judges is one of the Deuteronomistic History books (Stanley, p. 265,) meaning that it was edited as part of  the whole narrative concerning the history of Israel.  Because we believe this editing to have taken place either during or after the Babylonian exile (Lecture,) the intent of the creator could be surmised as follows:

1. National Unity –  Especially in the post exile period, I can imagine the remnant of Israel trying to rebuild the country.  After a couple of generations in a foreign land, they would need some stories to create a sense of nationalism among the returning exiles.  By taking a tribal legend, and expanding it to include the entire nation (Lecture,) the editors could be trying to build a sense of unity among the people.  The point being, the entire country rose to the call as one of the members had been wronged.  It is reminiscent of the commands of Nehemiah 4:19, “Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there!”They were all being encouraged by the support of their kinsmen.  This was a common practice among the biblical writers according to Paula McNutt,

“Particularly in crisis situations such as political subordination or exile, or periods of rapid social change, the biblical writers in various periods would have appealed to and reinterpreted sacred history (myth) to legitimate claims about the present and to encourage others to accept these claims, with such intentions as strengthening national identity, or reaffirming or reinterpreting shared values.”

2. Devotion to Yahweh – If this tale was created post exile, then it makes much sense that that the editors would bring great amounts of focus onto ridding the nation of sinful practices. As we see in Deuteronomy 17, wicked acts must be purged from the people if the nation as a whole is to be spared Gods judgment.  By taking such extreme measures (wiping out almost an entire tribe,) the editors are sticking closely with the idea that  “We must abolish all sin, or face the consequences.” A major theme in Deuteronomy.

List, in detail, the plot elements that would seem strange or even offensive to many modern readers in your social context. How, in detail, might these narrative elements have been perceived by an ancient audience? How might these narrative elements have functioned for that audience and its society? (That is, what good might these strange and offensive elements have served for the original hearers?)

1. Levite has a concubine
   1. This was completely acceptable to the ancient people
   2. The concubine served as the “property,” by which the Levite was wronged and provided the justification for the acts of revenge.
2. Levite allows his concubine to be abused
   1. This practice of “radical hospitality”might have been familiar to the audience due to a very similar story in Genesis 19:1-11.
   2. Possibly this would have resonated with the audience as the Levite having been in a “no win,” situation.  This was a feeling they could identify with and empathize with his desperation.
3. Levite desecrates her body
   1. By sending the various parts of her body to the tribes, the Levite was issuing a formal request for justice from the nation.
   2. In receiving these body parts, the tribes were probably incensed and moved to join in the acts of revenge on behalf of their kinsmen.
4. The Israelites kill everyone except virgins at Jabesh Gilead
   1. The destruction of the community came as a consequence for not helping the tribes in a time of need. This says to the nation that, “We all are expected to support and defend each other.”
   2. By sparing the 400 young women to marry with the Benjaminites, the nation was exercising great compassion on that tribe so that it would not be wiped out. This is a symbol of Gods grace and covenant toward all of Israel.
5. The Israelites ordered the abduction of Israelite young women for the Benaminites
   1. Unfortunately, taking women for their own uses would have been understandable for the ancient audience.
   2. I think the main point of adding this plot element was to restore or make Benjamin complete again after the Lord’s judgment. Again, a central theme of Deuteronomism, completing the cycle of disobedience, consequences, repentance, and restoration (Stanley, p. 256)

How does the story depict the leadership of Israel during this premonarchical period?

“In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” – Judges 21:25

While there was no king, it appeared in the story that there was decision-making at some level by consensus: evident by the fact that the tribes agreed to send warriors to fight on the Levite’s behalf.  But also there was great confusion of the “leaders” at times, such as how to provide wives for the remaining Benjaminites.  Almost as if some said, “Hey, lets do this,” and all the others just went along and replied, “Yeah, that’s a great idea!”  Those ideas didn’t make a lot of sense to me.  It looked almost like a loosely held anarchy with people being willing to follow anyone that seemed like a leader.

There was, however, another reverence for Deuteronomy’s commands.  They did seek the Lord on more than one occasion to ask if they should continue in their battles.  Even after significant losses, two days in a row, they maintained their obedience to the Lord’s commands and came away victorious (Judges 20:23-28.).

We don’t know the exact reasoning for the addition of this story in the larger narrative of Israel’s history.  However, it is clear that the points being made follow the same theme reiterated by the post exilic authors: When we return to God, He is faithful to reconcile, provide for and maintain justice for us.