Matthew 9

Chapter 9 is largely composed of Jesus healing various people - blind men, a person muted by demon possession, a paralytic, and even a dead girl. Interestingly, in at least one case Jesus told those healed (the two blind men of verses 27-31) not to tell anyone what had happened... but they did anyway. I'm not sure if that was a case of reverse psychology on Jesus' part, or if He really did want to keep a lower profile; if the later, I don't understand why.

We also get the account here of Matthew, a tax collector, being called as one of Jesus' disciples. He is the author of this book, of course, so up till now the stories told would have been compiled from second-hand sources... but from here on out, he is writing about events he actually witnessed.

Finally, in the middle of the chapter we have Jesus' response to two different questions: why he associated with tax collectors and sinners, and why He and His disciples did not fast. I love his answers, especially to the first question! He points out, quite rightly, that it is the sick (sinners) who need a physician (savior). The reality is also that the Pharisees who asked the question were in fact sinners, they just didn't think of themselves that way because of their religiosity. May we be careful never to fall into the same trap, and to be willing to reach out to those we may see on the outside as dirty or sinful - just like Jesus did.

Ruth 1

The book of Ruth starts off setting the scene. It is during the time of the Judges, and specifically while a famine was afflicting Judah. A man decides to take his family - a wife and two sons - to live in a nearby country... presumably one where there is more opportunity. We don't know how long they are gone in total, but it was a substantial amount of time as they settled, then the husband died and his sons married. We know they were there for about a decade from that point (Ruth 1:4), and since they were married for ten years without having children I want to know what sort of birth-control they had ;)

Anyways, the sons then die too - and Naomi (the wife/mother) decides to return to her own people. The devotion that Ruth shows by insisting to return with her is touching, especially her speech recorded in verses 16 and 17. I know the story already, of course, but even if I didn't I could see from this that Ruth is going to play a special part: her faith and commitment are amazing, especially considering her background.

Another interesting thing is that even after being gone so long (over a decade - maybe a lot longer) the people back in her hometown - Bethlehem - still remember her. They wouldn't have had telephones or the internet to keep in contact with her easily, and I don't think they even had a primitive version of the post office (especially not across country borders)... yet the people, or more specifically the women, still recognized her and remembered her name. I guess that isn't that hard to imagine, and from Naomi's point of view must have been encouraging despite her downtrodden spirit.

Judges 16

It is pretty clear that Samson had women problems. I'm not sure what he did for the twenty years he led Israel, but his career started with a marriage gone bad, then he went in for a prostitute, and then fell in love with a woman who nagged him into giving away the secret of his strength. A flawed man, just like all of us, and it was his downfall.

In the end he got revenge, though, and the Bible says he killed more people in his death than he had in his life - which means quite a few, since he had already killed in excess of 1,030 (just in his early days).

Deuteronomy 34

It was a short reading today, and simple: Moses died at the ripe old age of 120, though he himself was still strong. Joshua followed him in the role of leading the Israelites, and we'll hear more of his activities in the next book (which bears his name).

I did find it interesting that the oldest manuscripts of this chapter indicate that God Himself buried Moses, such that the Israelites did not know the exact location of his tomb or grave. That man truly had a close relationship with the Lord.

Numbers 20

Ah, yes, today we have the account of why Moses and Aaron did not get to enter the Promised Land. Moses disobeyed God's command, and so sealed his fate. What is most interesting here is that when God told them it was time for Aaron to die, and to pass the mantle of priesthood on to his son, Aaron went so willingly. How must it have felt to know the hour of your own death? Perhaps by his age, and with the things he had lived through, it was a blessing to die peacefully like that.

Numbers 16

Ah, the rebellion of Korah - I remember this story from High School (I went to a private Christian school, and courses in Biblical history were standard fare). The number of times that the Israelites themselves or members of their community attempted to rebel, complain, or otherwise disrespect the God that saved them from slavery amazes me; that Moses stuck up for them in spite of it all even more so. On this occassion, though, Moses called for God to destroy Korah and his followers (verses 28-30).

One thing I remember reading before, but which struck me particularly when going over the chapter tonight, was that the entire families of those who strayed were consumed with them: as the text describes it, they "stationed themselves in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers" (v 27) and then "the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households" (v 32). Having a young child of my own it is hard to swallow that mistakes I make could affect his very life - but that is how the world works.

Leviticus 10

Quite an interesting account today - two of Aaron's sons, the recently anointed priests, offer improper gifts to God... and are punished. It just occurred to me that the only times in the Bible where God directly kills an individual or small, specific group are when they are people who were supposed to be His: either Israelites or Christians. We have these two men in Leviticus, Korah and his followers a little later on, a man who reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant in David's time, and Ananias and Saphira in the early church period. I'm sure there are others, but all the ones that come to my mind share that common thread. I'm not sure what they means, but perhaps it should serve as a warning that while God is loving He also has rules and expectations for us that we need to respect and obey - especially since we as His followers have been entrusted with the knowledge of what we should and should not do.

Exodus 37

It looks like the final touches are being made in terms of the tabernacle and its accessories. The making of the ark in particular is covered in this chapter, which leads to a question I've wondered about. We will see later on that the ark is so sacred that even touching it brings instant death (hence the polls to carry it with). I wonder, though, when that starts: obviously it did not kill anyone working on the construction of it. I suspect that edict will go into effect when God's presence comes and settles on the ark, but I guess the Scriptures might say more when we get to that section.

Exodus 22

More laws today, this time covering possessions and various moral issues. It is interesting how many of these things carry a death penalty, and how squeamish modern society has become about such punishment. I'd really like to hear what folks reading this think about that issue, as it is a heavily debated topic in many political and social circles.

Exodus 12

Wow, a long chapter today - and a sad one for the Egyptians. Having a son myself now I can say that it would be a terrible thing to lose him like this. In fact, if you take the "firstborn" rule to include adults who were the first children in their families then I, my wife, and my son would all have died.

This is a happy time for the Israelites, though, as they are not escaped from slavery! It was also the start of the Passover tradition, which extends to this day. 430 years to the day they were in Egypt, and the 70 people who were a part of Jacob's household have now grown to be 600,000 men along with their wives and children! Quite impressive.

Genesis 50

The first book of the Bible draws to a close with the passing of Jacob, and then Joseph. Both are embalmed, per Egyptian custom, which I found interesting. Per his request, Jacob's body was taken with great ceremony (I wonder what folks who saw that processional would have thought!) to be buried with his forefathers, and I suppose that in order for remains to make such a journey that would pretty much be required. If it were not so, surely Jacob would have brought Rachel's body to be buried in his family's tomb rather than laying her to rest as they traveled.

After they return from burying their father, Joseph's brothers once again get paranoid that Joseph might seek revenge on them. Of course he has no such interest, and calms them down, but it is surprising how much their actions haunted them over their entire lives. I guess that should serve as a warning to us that we should be careful of what we do so that we don't regret things or live in fear our entire lives.

When Joseph nears death, he too shows a desire to be buried in the promised land - and makes his family swore that they will do so when God brings them up out of Egypt. I wonder if he realized how long it would be before that happened...

Genesis 49

Just as Jacob blessed Joseph's sons in the last chapter, so now he is blessing the rest of his children. The metaphors used throughout this passage are often interesting, and I'm sure would make much more sense if one had a command of the original language. However, I would like to note a couple that are outstanding.

Judah: To this son, and his family line, the throne of Israel was given (even here, hundreds of years before they would have a king). An allusion is also made to Jesus, in the phrase "until he comes to whom it [the scepter] belongs; the nations will obey him" (NET) - and sure enough, He was born into the tribe of Judah.

Reuben: Because of some rather incestuous acts that were briefly mentioned earlier, Reuben is stripped of much of his rightful position as firstborn. I am almost sad about this, as he was the one who kept the other brothers from killing Joseph early-on.

Simeon and Levi: The revenge they took by killing a whole city earlier in Genesis is remembered here, and they are chastised for it. This description of them as being violent is interesting, since it is from Levi's tribe that the priests would be chosen later on - usually service to God and His temple is seen as being separated from violence (for example, in David not being permitted to actually build the temple because he was a man of war).

Genesis 35

In today's reading we once more have an affirmation of the covenant between God and Abraham's descendants, along with a second proclamation that Jacob's name shall be changed to Israel (the first was when he wrestled with God). Prior to this Jacob/Israel instructed his family and followers to dispose of all the old idols and pagan symbols they had, which he buried; I guess Laban never got his 'household gods' back!

There is also a lot of death in this chapter: Rachel's nurse, then Rachel in childbirth, and finally Isaac at a good old age. Poor Israel - Rachel was the woman he fell in love with, and yet she was the first of his wives/concubines to die. It definitely explains why Benjamin, the son she had as she passed away, became his favorite: he was his last memory of her, and also his youngest son.

Genesis 25

There are some interesting things in today's passage, along with some further genealogical information that doesn't seem to be very critical. Time for another list, I think!

- Apparently Abraham had another wife, who gets a very short account here. I can only assume that she was brought in after Sarah died, since Abraham still lived another half-century or so after that. Apparently she was a lot more fruitful than Sarah had been, but Abraham sent her and his children by her away before he died. Clearly he saw that Isaac was his main heir, through whom God would fulfill his covenant.

- People had lots of kids in the past. I have only one, but I really don't know how I could ask my wife to go through the pain of pregnancy and childbirth again - not to mention I don't want to have to deal with additional years of changing diapers, and I have no idea how I would be able to afford more than one more mouth to feed. I suppose the people we are hearing about here are pretty affluent, and may have had all sorts of servants to take care of menial tasks, but it still seems like such a foreign concept.

- Twins... boy am I glad there is only one of my Gus! Having two sons born at the same time would bring in all sorts of competition, favoritism, and other things that are unhealthy. We can see in this account between Jacob and Esau that there was such tension, and that it turns out badly for one of them (granted it is his own fault, but still).