I-YOUniverse

Joshua 7 tells the horrifying story of a man’s greed. The Hebrews devoted Jericho utterly to God—in other words, killed and destroyed everything.

But Achan stole some gold, silver and a robe for himself. He was found out. He, his family, his livestock, his possessions were stoned and burned. A pile of stones was heaped up as a marker.

Achor was a place like Pearl Harbor, Auschwitz, Hiroshima, the World Trade Center.

But the prophets turned that around.

14 Therefore, I [the Lord] will now allure her [Israel],
     and bring her into the wilderness,
     and speak tenderly to her.
15 From there I will give her her vineyards,
     and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
     as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. 

Hosea 2:14-15 (NRSV)

9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
     and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
     and my servants shall settle there.
10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
     and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
     for my people who have sought me. 

 Isaiah 65:9-10 (NRSV)

The Hebrew Bible was compiled and transmitted in its final stages by people who’d lost everything. The enemy had destroyed the Temple and exiled the people from their land.

But the scribes preserved the stories. They kept hope alive.

And in so doing they made our desolate places valleys of hope.

If you happened to copy anything from this site from say February 1-4, delete it! I don’t know how hackers contaminate stuff, but you might have caught something. My security software gives the site a green light for secure now.

These are restored posts:

• Exodus 2-15
• Some promises of God
• Scan it/skip it or read it closely
• Joseph Scripture Search

God Sightings One Year Bible: Tues Jan 26—Mon Feb 1

Preliminary

• Ch 2 Guilty of murder, Moses flees from Pharaoh and settles into the life of a desert shepherd in the Sinai.
• Ch 3 Moses encounters God at the burning bush. God commissions Moses to bring the people out of Egypt, and reveals the sacred name YHWH 3:15. Moses and elder brother Aaron returns to Egypt, but fails to persuade Pharaoh to let the people go.
• Ch 4 Moses’ miraculous signs persuade the Israelites.
• Ch 5 The Egyptians increase the load, bricks without straw.
• Ch 6 God reassures Moses.

Plagues

1. Water turned to blood
2. Frogs
3. Gnats (first Egyptians couldn’t duplicate)
4. Flies
5. Livestock diseased
6. Boils
7. Thunder and hail
8. Locusts
9. Darkness
10. Death of firstborn

Hardness of heart

• (9x) God hardens 4.21 future; 7.3 future; 9.12; 10.1, 20, 27; 11.10; 14.4, 8.
• (3x) Pharaoh hardens 8.15, 32; 9.34.
• (6x) Passive voice (no subject) 7.13, 14, 22; 8.19; 9.7, 35.

Romans 9:14-18 (NRSV)

¹⁴ What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
     and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
¹⁶ So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. ¹⁷ For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.

1.  God will always love you (Romans 8 .35-39).
2. God will always forgive you (1 John 1.9).
3. God will provide direction for your life (Proverbs 3.4-5).
4. God will hear and answer your prayers (Proverbs 15.29 and 1 John 5.14).
5. God will always be with you (Isaiah 41.10 and Matthew 28.20).
6. God will enable you to face temptation (1 Corinthians 10.15).
7. God will meet your needs (Matthew 6.25-33).

© Group Publishing, Inc. Used by permission.

You may never read closely much of the first six books of the Bible—you and 99% of faithful Bible readers as well. Don’t quit. Skip it or scan it.

Here are some nuggets to read closely:

READ

Exodus

• Ch 24, Communion with God
• Ch 32-34, Golden Calf episode
• 40.34-38 God’s glory descends on Tabernacle

Leviticus

• 9.23-24, God accepts offerings
• 10.1-4, Danger of Wrong Use of Holy Things
• Ch 16, Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)

Numbers

• 6.22-27, the Priestly Blessing
• Ch 10-14, Catastrophe!
• Ch 16-17, Who’s the Real Priest?
• Ch 20-25, the Journey to Canaan

The story of Joseph begins Genesis 37 / Jan 18 / p. 61.

1. How was Joseph’s second dream different from his first? So what? 37.5-10
2. What nationality were the traders to whom the brothers sold Joseph? 37.25-28
3. How does God become known in the Joseph story?
4. How did Joseph resist the advances of Potiphar’s wife? Ch. 39
5. How did God relate to Joseph in prison? Ch. 39
6. According to Joseph, who can interpret dreams? So what? (Note 41.16.)
7. What do Joseph’s interpretations in prison demonstrate about him?
8. Characteristics of Pharaoh’s dreams:
   1. Cows, grain came out of Nile
   2. Blasted followed healthy
   3. Repeated
9. What personal qualities does Joseph demonstrate in the interview with Pharaoh?

10.  What do the names of Joseph’s children tell us about his outlook? 41.51-52

11.  Through testing his brothers, what does Joseph learn? Ch 42-44

12.  Does he single out Benjamin

1. To keep him, his only full brother, in Egypt?
2. To see how the brothers’ attitudes toward Jacob’s favorite might have changed?

13.  How would you evaluate Joseph’s success in light of his

1. Using a cup for divination?
2. Enslaving the starving populace?

14.  What contributed to Joseph’s mature willingness to forgive? 50.19-21

15.  What is the most important lesson in the Joseph story for you?

If you got re-directed to the Chinese sex museum the last day or two, you experienced my blog hacked.

I hope, with  God’s help and WP docs, to have corrected the problem. But the latest clean version I had was Jan 6.

So here it is, restored, I hope. I apologize to any one who was inconvenienced by this detour into lala land.

Thanks to everyone for taking part. We found close to 30 new uses for coffee filters!

The group handled some very big questions:

• Who wrote Genesis?
• What is “myth”?
• What do numbers like “120 years” mean?

One value of reading the whole Bible is discovering what questions you want to ask. Since it is God’s book, some questions take a lifetime, some longer, and some you answer sooner.

 ”Doubting Thomas” — a nickname he doesn’t deserve—asked great questions. He shows up three times in the gospel of John:

1. John 11.16, “Let us go die with him [Jesus].”
2. John 14.5, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” Jesus answers, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
3. John 20.24-26, “I won’t believe unless I put my finger in the nail mark” and seeing Jesus, he cries, “My Lord and my God!”

Thomas’ fearless questions show his deepening faith.

Who wrote Genesis?

Tradition says Moses did. Scholars believe the stories in Genesis were told among  the Israelites, family stories that made them Israelites. This is “oral history,” and is found universally, but especially before writing became prevalent and of course before the printing press.

God inspired the authors of the Bible, either word for word or idea for idea. 2 Timothy 3.16, 

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

2 Tim 3:14-17 (NRSV)

Timothy learned from his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois, just as we learn our early lessons about God from family. (2 Tim. 1.5).

The Bible does not ask or answer the questions that scientists and journalists ask, because its purpose is to teach us how to live, not to satisfy all intellectual questions.

The Hebrew Bible we have was put in its present form about the 6th or 5th century before Christ. The stories may, however, be a thousand years or more older.

What is “myth”?

In ordinary conversation a “myth” is a false or made up story. Scholars use the word “myth” for truth beyond human experience or comprehension. For example, no human was present to observe the creation. No language can completely capture it. Therefore, “myth” (truth beyond human comprehension) in the form of story, narrative, metaphor points to the truth which the Holy Spirit conveys to the heart. “In the beginning God created…”

When you find an animal speaking, for example a snake in Genesis 3, it’s natural to suppose that what you have is truth in the form of a folk tale about how people became such a moral mess.

If you say “the Bible is a myth” meaning it’s a false or made up fairy tale—you’re dead wrong.

Many people believe the words of the Bible are mythic words, like fingers pointing to the moon (where “moon” stands for truth, “fingers” stands for symbolic language), You don’t mistake one for the other.

What do the numbers in Genesis mean?

Ancient Hebrew is not precise, as modern mathematics is. Numbers indicate relative size, not exact quantities. Ancient peoples, like many in traditional cultures today, often do not know their exact age.

Well, anyway, folks, thanks for a great time. I love you. See you next week. John