Category: Biblical Studies/Exegesis

Songs That Witness Against

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, Deuteronomy, Fourth Principle

Even though there are sizable aggregates in the Church Universal that either laud Hebrew and Hebrew texts to an unhealthy degree on the one hand, and those that walk with anti-Semitic threads in teaching Scripture on the other hand, I remain committed to teaching and Exegeting the two segments of Holy Writ as one.

I have also dealt with several individuals that think not a few unsavory things about the Greek language of the New Testament (see the stream of thought that the Greek language is less than Hebrew *GROAN* and other oversimplified views).

Anyway, what follows are my thoughts on some text in Deuteronomy that gripped me (my spirit) the last couple of days.

The Song of Moses That Witnesses Against Israel

The text reads:

“Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the L-RD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:

(Deuteronomy 31:28–30 ESVi)

And the song that witnesses against runs through the lion’s share of chapter 32.

I am not going to cite the whole thing because it’s 44 verses.

But basically, to sum up, the L-RD blessed His people in the land, they grew “fat” and in abundance, and then chose to rebel.

See, too many people read through Deuteronomy 32, the hot-button verse in 39 that says:

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”

…and then they assume a quick, two-dimensional Calivinist theology of the sovereignty of the G-d of Caprice,

…without seeing 32:39 in the context of G-d’s deeply personal investment in his people (making them alive and healing them: cross-reference Exodus 15:26: I am the L-RD that healeth thee),

…followed by their growing fat in the land, followed by their rebellion, FOLLOWED BY His declaration that the destruction that comes from Him, no matter the vehicle, is in cool-headed response to their deliberate pattern of stubbornness….

Too many people need to slow their roll when it comes to exegesis and not leap towards the simple, easy, and wrong solution to the nature of G-d.

And Moses is giving this this song as a warning about what is to come if they turn from the King. And one of the lessons we can gather from the text is that “justice and retribution for repeated patterns of stubbornness will come”).

Be blessed, gang. And May your evenings be full of the King׳s kindness.

Truly, this song is an expression of the merciful heart of a loving G-d. Dear eres d DC C

The Boundary Lines Are Fallen Unto Me…. (Part 1)

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, Fractal of Seven, Fractals, Principles

In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the great deep, and the Spirit of G-d was hovering over the face of the waters.

And G-d said….

Let there be light…and G-d separated the light from the darkness and principle from principle and idea and concept from idea and concept and complexity from complexity so we can see each building block as it is.

Let there be a dome to separate waters from waters

Let the waters separate from the land, and let the vegetation appear…

Let there be signs to separate days from months and seasons from years….

Let there be well-timed creatures in both the heavens and in the seas…

Let there be systematized animals on the dry land that are constant in their presence that are sensitive to the justice of G-d

Let there be fulfilling respites and strong pushbacks against futility and let those regular respites form a boundary between vigor and apathy.

Genesis 1:1-2:4 paraphrased

Seven boundaries, gang.

Each causing and allowing factories of thought and ideas and action to coalesce and weave together so that we can stave off the serfdom of darkness from the Kingdom of Light.

For, and I surmise you will agree, you do not wish to take the road to serfdom.

For that road is full of stubborn taskmasters, and futilely unproductive pain without respite that continues to grind in a choppy, oilless mess.

You were made to glide as a well-lubricated machine and a joyous son in the mindset of a Light-hearted and systematic Kingdom of Love.

And while Prophets bash, and Givers and Rulers /Judges/Deliverers and Servants order, and Teachers, Exhorters, and Prophets and Mercies reveal and Mercies find flow, and Exhorters gather, and Teachers plumb down….

And Givers/Stewards manage and provide….

There is a deeper connection and division and lines and boundaries that are given to each of the seven gifts to make.

And we will cover those in depth in the coming weeks and months.

But as for now, as I have stirred the pot between the six-colored rainbows and the seven-colored rainbows, I will ask you to consider one thing:

What does white truly look like?

And what are all the different types of light and frequency created on the first day, and how are those different from the waves in the fifth day?

Names of G-d: Hebrews 4:12: The Word of G-d Is Quick and Powerful… Hint: It’s Not Talking About Scripture

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, Hebrews 4

“HE is sharper than any two-edged sword…..“

“HE is able to divide between Joints and Marrow, soul and spirit…”

“HE is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart”

Hebrews 4:12, more accurately translated.

Real talk, gang.

Hebrews 4 is about Jesus. The whole thing is about Jesus.

And given it is about Jesus, let this reality sink in, Verse 12 is not talking about the Bible, unless the writer of Hebrews switches the implication of the objective case in Verse 12.

Proof of this? Verse 13

“And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Not “no creature will be hidden from IT’S sight.”

HIS sight. He divides.

Those who incessantly say the Bible is the Word of G-d while refusing to say Jesus is the Word of G-d and refusing to give Jesus HIS due in that office as the Word need to seriously consider the strength and work of the PERSON who was the Word of G-d BEFORE giving credence to the Bible as the Word of G-d. For the Bible is only the Word because Jesus is the Word. And the Bible’s Wordness derives from Jesus’ Wordness.

He is not the testimony if it.

Rather, it is the testimony of Him.

It’s fine to know the text of the Bible.

But what makes one a follower of Jesus is the one who Knows Jesus, the Word of G-d Himself.

Know the difference. And learn to relate to the Man as well as you know the book.

And keep reaching Higher.

Our walk os a relationship with a Man.

Not a book. And not a set of propositions.

Just saying.

A Paradigm For Which The Church Has No Grid

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, What Revival Looks Like

Gang, when you hear about the end times and the end days, what do you typically hear from when speaking with the standard prettiness rapturist as it pertains to nations, governments, and land?

“This nation, all nations, and this earth are going to one day burn up and be consumed by fires, so there is really no point in doing anything except trying to win as many people as possible to Jesus.”

And yet, one of the premiere scriptures that is used for revival is 2 Chronicles 7:14.

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their people.

“Wait a minute!”, you say. “That’s not the verse!”

It ends with the phrase “heal their land”

And we missed the punch line, so much that Rebecca St. James has codified everything BUT THAT PUNCHLINE into a really catchy cut.

Jesus I am broken now
Before you I fall I lay me down
All I want is you, my all

I cry out from the ashes
Burned with sin and shame
I ask you Lord to make me whole again

For you say if I will come and will
Pray for you
There’s forgiveness when I
Turn from me and pray
For you say if I will come and will
Pray to you
You hear me and heal me when I pray

Your ways are not my own
But I long for them to be
So this what I pray
One with you you’ll make me

Melt me away ’til only you remain

For you say if I will come and will
Pray for you
There’s forgiveness when I
Turn to you and pray
For you say if I will come and will
Pray to you
You hear me and heal me when I pray

Did you see it?

Read the verse again.

If they will Humble themselves And pray And seek me face And turn from their wicked ways Then I will hear from heaven Forgive their sin And heal their land.

Now the sin being forgiven is one thing. Even being healed is another. Us redeemed? No problem.

But land that will one day burn up?

That land being healed?

That’s a bit outside of our zone, comfort, and theology.

How many sermons have you ever heard preached about revival in this age before the age to come that involve the land responding to revival?

Not many stories of how the land reacts are our there.

Of those those that do get told, the land often doesn’t fare well from our consumer-oriented, human souls-first-or-only revivals that focus on building buildings by taking on further debt.

Such as the Brownsville Revival.

But G-d wants to impact more than just healing, delivering, saving, and redeeming humans.

He wants to heal the land as well.

Whether or not you like the idea of believers interacting with land, that is a missing part from much of the current teaching on revivial.

I pray that changes.

LEPROSY AND UNCLEAN: LEVITICUS 13

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, Uncategorized

“Unclean” in the Torah…a curious phrase. I am reading abot leprosy in Leviticus 13, and I think about the ways in which this word is use in the text.

We come to this word and we immediately think, “not clean”, or “dirty”, and as a result of that, we might go to “I am not good enough to appear in the presence of the L-rd”, and then leap to “I must not be good enough for the King’s presence.”

However, I do not think this train of thought fully encapsulates what the L-rd is trying to convey here. I do not think that our swiftness to leap to G-d’s rejection of us because of imperfections is really the right way to go about this.

Whenever I read a passage in Scripture as a pastor and a teacher, I start with the premises that G-d is good, G-d is love, RIghteousness and Justice are the foundations of His place of rule, and G-d desires a personal relationship and interaction with each of us.

That informs my reading, especially of things like unclean, which might tempt us to adjudicate G-d as unjust or unfair or somehow not right or mean-spirited. And thus we are left ot a place of futility. I do not think that is a helpful way of looking at Torah, and while Andy Stanley talked about unhitching our faith from the Tanakh/Old Testament….

I think a more appropriate place to go would be to unhitch our faith from sloppy, abridged, or merciless INTERPRETATIONS of the Tanakh/Old Testament that lead us to quickly pass judgment of the L-rd.

I do not believe “unclean” was used here to simply convey “dirty”, or “can’t come into G-d’s presence”, or “not good enough”, leading us to say G-d is mean or what-not.

And lest someone accuse me of attempting to negate the idea that “your sins have seperated you from G-d”, that is not what I am saying here. G-d is holy, but our idea of holiness often looks something like “free from sin”, rather than “weaving together principles to produce change”.

I think that “unclean” frequently refers to the idea of something that violates the singleness of our basic essence. And oftentimes, sickness, disease, and tragedy do not come into our life because we or our parents sinned. Often times, that comes into our life so that G-d may be glorified (Job 1-42; John 9:1-6).

Truly, it sounds like G-d wants to draw near to those who are broken or compomised (Luke 15:20), or unclean. So, our better solution is not the mindset that we need to stay away from G-d, but rather allow Him to run to us and we run to Him. Leviticus 13 is not about how we stay away from G-d, but how we protect ourselves and others when we are dealing with the junk that could threaten the stability of the larger group. And in the midst of the leper colony, we connect with the Father, who runs toward us.

Even while we are managing a sickness that can threaten our community, the holiness of heaven, with its weaving together of principles to produce change, desires to meet us where we are, outside the camp or inside the camp.

So, as you are looking at these passages, do not merely see them as “G-d doesn’t like me”. Rather, see them as “G-d has a purpose to connect with me in this season”.

So, when you read “unclean”, stop with the nonsense of thinking, “G-d refuses to receive me or look at me because I am a worm bastard sinner”. Think “G-d wants to clean me up and distill and purify my essence so that it is a single and cohesive whole.”

G-d is zealous that our essence be 100% your essence with nothing added…

You should be, too.

Some Thoughts On Leviticus 7:8

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis

The text reads:

And the priest who offers any man’s burn offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering that he has offered.

Leviticus 7:8 ESV

This is the only time the hide of the animal is mentioned as being gifted in the text of Scripture.

For me, this has stood out for a few weeks, and I have been pondering why the skin of the burnt offering?

What is being done here?

The whole offering is being offered to the L-rd, so why is the skin so special here to be singled out as a gift.

Skins turn to leather, which has a boatload of uses. Perosnally I love the smell of tanned leather.

So, let’s grab some commentators and see what they have to say.

Roy Gane mentions nothing about the skins (NIV Application Commentary). Richard Hess only mentions the fact of the skins transferring to the priest with no exposition as to why (Expositor’s Bible Commentary). Allen Ross, author of “Holiness to the L-rd: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus) mentions the L-rd took care of the practical needs of the priest in the offering. “Not only did they eat the meat, but they also received the skins. In addition to providing clothing for the families of the priests, no doubt a lively trade could have been sustained from the skins taken from the sacrifices. G-d takes care of those who minister thorugh the giving of worshipers.” There, in the sacrificial system instituted by Moses, is found “spiritual satisfaction [for] the worshiper and practical needs [for] the priest in service” (Ross, 176).

And finally, Jacob Milgrom says nothing as to the purpose of the hides, though he does mention it is passing, and talking about the volume of hides produced from personal burnt offerings, he menitons these all belong to the priests.

So What?

What is the purpose of the hides from the burnt offering.

Being left to speculate with my gut based on the rest of the text. I will note that the L-rd covered the first man and his bride with skins from a sin offering:

And the L-RD G-d made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Genesis 3:21 ESV

I wonder if the L-rd’s assignment of hides from the burnt offering to the priests was designed to be a perpetual reminder of his mercy to the first couple in the garden, a memorial of His mercy. And as we hand Him everything in that portion called the burnt offering in recognition of all He has done, as the children of Israel handed the L-rd the whole of the burnt offerings in regonition of His transplanting and sustaining the nation of Israel in Mizraim, perhaps it ws a reminder of the extent of His mercy in making sure the priests, and we by extension, as members of a royal priesthood, are covered, regadless of our behavior, perpetually by His mercy. The burnt offering is also the only offering that has to be executed morning and evening regardless of the state of Israel. The other offerings are only executed WHEN an event happens. The burnt offering, however, is mandated without respect to event. Therefore, baked into the process of the burnt offering is a picture of Father’s unfailing love toward us.

This is speculation, but it is speculation that makes sense.

Consider this today as you read the text, that His mercy and his love must always burn, and there is never a time when that fire does not burn out (Leviticus 6:13), and that fire is powered by the never-faiing burnt offering, morning and evening.

On Joseph, Israel and the Adopting of Ephraim and Manasseh

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis

Genesis 48 has always provided me with some nagging questions. One in particular.

Why would Israel perform what appears to be an adoption of Jacob’s sons and what further could be taken by some to imply a disinheriting of Joseph?

How does this fold into the Genesis 49 blessing given to Joseph?

I would like to suggest the possibility, for the purpose of discussion, and I accept I could be wrong.

But one of my guidestars in dealing with the text of Scripture is that I endeavor to be a student WITH others, and to learn from those who are scholars of the Scripture, as well as those who are not. I have, in teaching have always preferred the round table to the lectern or the pulpit, not that I mind standing behind something.

But I like to sleuth with other believes about the possibilities in the text.

Some have put forth the idea that, because of the discussion of the silver cup of divination (Genesis 44:1-5) showed Joseph left the faith of Adonai.

While I don’t necessarily buy that idea, given the fact Joseph mentions the L-rd later on, and given some of the other interactions they have, I have to say that the adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh can do one of a number of things.

1) Show a replacement of Joseph with two others.

2) Show a intensification of blessing upon Joseph.

3) Show Joseph as defined by the twin realities of Ephraim and Manasseh.

4) I would also be willing to entertain the possibility that the variety and length of trauma was strong enough to create a part in Joseph, that is, a divided identity (along the spectrum of DID).

What tells against the idea of Joseph being disinherited are the statements, “am I in the place of G-d” (Gen 50:19), “you meant evil against me, but G-d meant it for good” (Gen 50:20), and the statements from Israel in 48:21-22 that G-d will be with Joseph and that Israel was passing to Joseph the slope he got from defeating the Amorites.

What seems to tell for the disinheritance of Joseph is the silver cup of divination.

What seems to tell for Ephraim and Manasseh’s adoption alongside Joseph is the statement in 48:5-6 that Ephraim and Manasseh are sons of Israel.

Just some thoughts.

There could also be something I am missing, which, I would love to hear your thoughts on.

Why Some of Us Are Tired of the Popular Tripe Regarding the Angelic Realm: From The Desk of Michael Heiser

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, Uncategorized

Dr Heiser writes,

This is some of the most solid work on the topic of angels. Dr. Heiser’s book on angels adds a welcome weight of obsession with the canon of biblical text that counterpoints our touchy-feels, charismatic foolishness.

Indeed, what is needed is more of an understanding of the fullness of what Scripture is saying, not less, and not necessarily more merely of what the traditions of Christianity and Judaism are saying apart from the informing plumb line of the canon.

Mike Heiser is precisely the exegetical breath of fresh air on a number of topics that we need.