Matthew 8

Matthew 8 contains several short stories about Jesus' ministry, but very interesting ones. The first shows examples of Jesus healing people, with an account of a Roman Centurion who believed Jesus didn't even need to come to his home to heal someone. Of course he was correct, and Jesus states that he has found more faith in this man than any of the Jews. Pretty sweet!

The third healing reported here is of Peter's mother in law. Let me say that again: mother in law. What does that mean? Peter was married! So the man who the Catholics built the idea of the papacy on was married, but they prohibit their priests (all the way from the lowliest up to the pope) from being married. Yeah, sorry guys: ya got this one wrong.

All of these healings, and the text states there were many more than these three, were fulfilling more prophecy about Jesus. Matthew quotes part of Isaiah 53:4 in the passage here, and it is quite applicable.

Following this we have the fairly famous account of Jesus calming a storm. What I like most here is that He was sleeping through it for a while - its things like this that remind us He was human - and then His perfect control over nature shows that he is also fully God. We also see here that His disciples at this early stage really don't realize who He is, based on their reaction.

Finally, we have the account of Jesus casting demons out of two men and into a herd of pigs. The locals aren't thrilled about the loss of the herd, but the more interesting thing here to me is the reaction of the demons to Jesus' presence. In verse 29 they ask: "What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" This highlights a few things:

- They know Jesus' true identity
- They fear Him
- They are aware that they will be tormented at a future time, and that the time was not yet there

If memory serves there are other places in the Gospels where a demon-possessed person rightly identifies Jesus, and if those following Him didn't fully believe it themselves you'd think that would tip the scales. It also must be terrifying to *know* you are destined for judgement and torment... I wonder if the angels who rebelled and became demons knew that was going to be their punishment, or if it wasn't till after their rebellion failed that they realized it? They must have thought they and Satan had some chance, or why would they have turned on God in the first place? Dear me, though, I am getting off-topic; we'll come back to this in a future passage, I'm sure.

Ruth 4

This chapter finishes off the story of Ruth. Boaz follows tradition, though, and first offers the position to a closer relative; when that man turns it down for seemingly selfish reasons (to the point where history has forgotten his name) Boaz steps in and weds Ruth. This assures that she and Naomi will be taken care of and provided for.

Through Ruth, Boaz ends up fathering a son: Obed - the father in turn of Jesse, father of soon-to-be-king David. This makes for a great story in the lineage of David (and therefore of Christ), and a neat insight into the lives of normal people in Israel during the time of the Judges. It also offers a perfect transition to the books of Samuel, which feature David prominently.

Ruth 3

This chapter contains what I think is the most... whats a good word? Ah, 'unique' marriage proposal I've ever heard of. Apparently laying down next to a man and uncovering some not-well-defined portion of his lower anatomy could be taken to mean that you wanted to marry him. My, how times have changed!

There are some other customs and habits of the time period that are also shown here, though they aren't the focus. Apparently the places where harvests were processed - the threshing floor - doubled as a home away from home. Boaz is described as sleeping 'at the far end of the grain heap' (verse 7, NET). Maybe he had a cot or some blankets to sleep on, but that he would just lay down right there next to his work seems very foreign to me.

On the topic of marriage, it turns out that there was a pecking order of sorts within their culture. Boaz wasn't the closest male relative, so he had to check with the man who was before being able to commit to Ruth in marriage. We also have it implied here that Boaz was not a young man - but just how much older than Ruth he was, or whether he was already married, is not told (multiple marriages seem common at this time - see I Samuel 1).

Deuteronomy 22

More laws today - covering purity in (and out) of marriage, as well as responsibility for the property of neighbors. The laws about sexual relations all seem to make sense to me, and seem quite appropriate given God's strict views on intimacy and physical relationships. What was more interesting I thought was the idea that if someone else's belongings - whether a living animal, or an item of clothing - is lost that the Israelites were not simply ignore it, or intervene if they felt like it; instead they were commanded to help.

There were also a couple of other miscellaneous rules, including a provision forbidding cross-dressing. I wonder how to take that today: pants, for example, have become standard clothing for both men and women - though once they were just a man's realm. My suspicion is that it changes over time, and that the idea here isn't that a certain specific article of clothing is forbidden from either gender but rather that one is not to make oneself look like the opposite sex. If that is correct, then it could be taken a step further to imply a taboo against gender-changing operations.

I do wonder, though, what constituted mens' vs womens' clothes in the time of the ancient Israelites...

Numbers 12

The short chapter today is interesting on several levels. For starters, Moses' siblings - Aaron and Miriam - who were helping to lead the Israelites seem to have become jealous of Moses on some level. They complained of his marriage to an "Ethiopian", but then switch tracks and suggest that they too have been given the gift of prophesy and should be qualified to lead. God has Moses' back in this, though, and gives them both a stern talking to. Furthermore, he strikes Miriam with leprosy... though at the behest of Moses he makes it temporary, rather then a permanent ailment.

What stood out to me was as follows:

- The description of Moses as "very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth." (verse 3, NET). This is especially odd to find here, as I thought that Numbers was written by Moses himself; perhaps God insisted that he include this, or maybe his scribe (if he was dictating) added that touch.

- Miriam was struck with leprosy, but Aaron was not. I wonder why God didn't strike them both? Actually, now that I think about it I bet I know the answer: Aaron was the high priest, but having leprosy would have made him ceremonially unclean and not fit for his post.

- The first complaint leveled against Moses in the opening verses is that he married an Ethiopian, but I thought that his wife Zippora (sp?) was from Midian. Perhaps she was of Ethiopian descent, though, or maybe just darker skinned like someone from that region - or could Moses have married a second time?

Numbers 5

Wow, we went from rather mundane chapters about who had what responsibility in caring for the Tabernacle to a very interesting, and very controversial, test for a women suspected of infidelity. There are several things that come to my mind reading over this section of Scripture:

- We must remember that this is indeed Scripture, and as such cannot be dismissed as we would the idea of a witch trial. God put this law in place for a reason, and there is something we can learn from its inclusion in the Bible.

- That being said, this does seem to run a different course than many laws. Most deal with punishments for crimes or sins, but this one talks about a test for use in situations where wrongdoing was suspected but there was no proof or witnesses. That alone makes it stand out, but the methodology of the test is even more odd.

- The way it is described almost seems shamanistic, or magical, but we must remember that God can do anything. The only conclusion I can come to is that God would honor this test if used, and actually step in and make the mixture affect or not affect an accused woman as appropriate (since of course He knows all events, motives, and thoughts).

- It is also possible that the threat of this 'curse', on a woman who had committed adultery, might have been enough to get a confession from the vast majority of people rightly accused. I suppose the traditional punishment for adultery was death, so maybe this isn't correct, but it is something to consider. Also, those who were truly innocent would have nothing to fear if they believed that God was indeed in charge.

- For some reason, this test is only described as applying to a woman... what if a wife suspected her husband of cheating? Why was that left out, or will it be dealt with in a later section?

Genesis 34

I've always been fascinated by the story in this passage - and somewhat horrified. Those of you who know me well probably know that when it comes to matters of military and war I tend to agree with the use of force in situations I think are right, but there are some instances in the Bible where the reaction of one group or person seems overkill. This is definitely one such place!

We find that a prince among the people who live in the area Jacob and his sons moved to falls in love with, and apparently rapes, one of Jacob's daughters. He then asks for her hand in marriage, which is backwards in terms of proper order but at least seems to indicated that his feelings for her are real. Unfortunately we never find out what Dinah thinks of all this, but her brothers obviously do not approve. Rather than just fighting for her honor then and there, which I could see as a legitimate reaction, then feign agreement with the proposal and ask in exchange that the men of the region be circumcised. That is a lot to ask of a whole culture, but they go through with it - and then while they are in pain and less able to defend themselves the brothers (Simeon and Levi at least, maybe more) come through and slaughter them.

The things that bother me here are the deceit and the level of revenge: we don't know how many people were killed, but it was every male in a whole city - so I have to assume at least a few hundred. Further on in the Bible, when Israel the country is facing various enemies, God instructs them to be very complete in their slaughter... but it is one thing when God tells you to do something in order to avoid being corrupted later on by societies that worship false gods, and another to go on killing sprees because you feel that your family has been dishonored. Jacob's reaction is also rather interesting: he doesn't seem to tell his sons that they were morally wrong to do what they did, but that it would make them look bad to other nearby peoples.

Genesis 29

Ah, young love! There is nothing like working for seven years for the girl of your dreams, only to have your father-in-law do a 'wife swap' on your wedding night and give you his other daughter. It makes me wonder if the reason Laban gave - that tradition insisted the older daughter marry before the younger - was really his reason. Perhaps he just wanted another seven years of work from Jacob, or maybe he was concerned that Leah wouldn't get married otherwise (there is an indication that she may not have been as visually appealing as Rachel).

Even more, though, I wonder how Jacob managed to sleep with Leah on his wedding night and not realize till the morning that he had been tricked! Maybe he was drunk, as Lot had been earlier in Genesis, but if he was that far gone then they used to brew some serious wine. If not, then I think he had some explaining to do his intended. Of course, Rachel must also have known what was going on - so perhaps she didn't care that she would have to share her husband with her sister. Things like this are a very strong reminder that life back then was quite different from what it is today.

Genesis 28

Here we have yet another instance of a favored son being instructed to take a wife from among Abraham's relatives, rather than the locals. This time, though, instead of sending a servant to find the bride Isaac sends the one to be married - Jacob. Along the way he has a bit of a dream, in which he sees and hears God speak to him.

It seems that God re-affirms his covenant with Abraham's bloodline over and over, but here we have the first occurrence of it with Jacob specifically. This shows, officially, that Jacob will be the heir of Issac through whom the covenant will be fulfilled - just as it came through Isaac rather than Ishmael.

A few interesting things to note from the passage:

- When Esau realizes that his parents dislike the women he married (due to their ancestry), he goes and marries another woman - a daughter of Ishmael. This is closer in to the family line, and so presumably an attempt to curry favor again with his father. I guess I am a little surprised, given all the events that transpired in the last chapter, that he is still concerned about impressing his father.

- After the dream that Jacob has, he promises to obey and serve God - but on the condition that he is kept safe on his journey. Given the vision he had just woken from, one would think that he would be best served not to try and 'make a deal' with God. I wonder what God thought of that...

Genesis 24

This is a very beautiful account of faith put into action, as many of the preceding passages in Genesis have been. Abraham puts his faith in God and in his senior servant, that servant in turn trusts God to show him the right woman for Isaac, and then she and her family trust in God's decision merely based on the words of the servant. It is a pretty big commitment to send your daughter off to marry a man you've (probably) never met, and even more so to be the girl being given in marriage!

There is one odd thing that struck me here, though. We get an account that when the servant finds Rebekah and believes her to be the woman God has chosen, that he gives her a ring and bracelets right off. I thought, "wow, did they really use rings way back then for proposals? thats cool" - until a few verses later when we find out that the ring was in her nose! Ew! I'm not a fan of piercings, and especially not big gaudy ones in noses and other odd anatomy. I suppose this would be a good verse to point to, though, when dealing with parents or other family who don't want a girl to get her nose pierced. Hmm... if I ever have a daughter, I'll have to remember to come back and delete this paragraph ;)

Genesis 2

So, this chapter expands a bit on the creation of man (and woman). The description of the garden of Eden is pretty neat, though the inclusion of the description of the four rivers is rather surprising - it doesn't really seem to fit, unless the rivers are still in the same place even after the flood.

The real gem here is the description of God creating woman and the foundation it makes for marriage. Having just passed our 4th anniversary, I can truly say that my wife is my helpmate. It seems that some translations bring this across more literally as the woman "corresponding to" the man, or matching, and when God brings two people together under His plans it definitely feels like that :)

This chapter in:
New America Standard, New King James, New International