random thoughts about the old testament

I'm taking an Old Testament Survey class right now. Each class, we turn in a reflection paper on thoughts that we are wrestling with based on the class material. This is what I turned in tonight. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

In our discussion about Jacob and blessing, we talked about how, throughout his life, Jacob sought his own blessing (stealing the birthright and blessing from Esau and conniving the way to get the best flocks from Laban) until his experience at Peniel, when he finally asked God to bless him. I find it interesting that it was not until this point that Jacob took God as his own God. When God first showed Himself to Jacob at Bethel (Gen 28:10-22), Jacob made a vow with God that in essence said, “If You will be with me and let me return safely home, then You will be my God.” Throughout the years that passed between that experience and his return to Bethel, Jacob continued to seek his own blessing, and though he reaped his own deception from Laban, his wives, and his children, God was with him and blessed him. I think this is paralleled in the lives of God’s people today, in that children who are raised by Christian parents have to decide at some point to take their parents’ faith as their own, their parents’ God as their own. If we want our lives to have true meaning, we have to finally give up the pursuit of our own self-glorification and seek God’s blessing.

The notion that God’s original intent was for all of Israel to be priests was something I have never thought of before, but based on Exodus 19:16, I agree. I previously understood that only the tribe of Levi had this privilege, because Israel broke the covenant by the golden calf and Levi rallied to the Lord, but I now realize that it was never intended to be that way. The language of Exodus 19:16 is very similar to what the apostle Peter calls the Church: “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9). This makes even more sense in light of the failure of the golden calf of Exodus. God’s intent for Israel as a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” is fulfilled in the Church—everyone who is called out of darkness into His light—the people of God, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

The pattern in Scripture that God’s heart was always for all people is becoming more clear to me. Based on His covenant with Abraham, God chose Israel as His treasured possession, and the blessing of the nations would come through Abraham’s seed. The exclusion of other nations from Israel (for example, intermarriage) was because the nations served other gods and would lead Israel into their paganism, not because they were Gentiles. The inclusion of Rahab and Ruth (who pledged to follow Yahweh) points to this. The command against intermarriage is no different from Paul’s command to Christians, “do not be yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

In the same vein, within the tribes we see a similar pattern. As was said before, God chose the Levites for the priesthood, but Samuel was an Ephraimite who did the job of a priest and pleased God. God’s concern is for the heart, not for a specific tribe. But those who wanted to get the priesthood for their own gain (Korah—a Levite, Dathan, and Abiram) were destroyed.

I am also learning more about the grace in the Law, or the spirit of the Law. According to Leviticus 24:9, only the priests were allowed to eat the consecrated bread. In 1 Samuel 21, Ahimelech the priest gave it to David and his men without consequence, and later Jesus referred to this when His disciples were accused of breaking the Sabbath. The spirit of the law is to do good to those in need, and they were within that. Another example of this is when Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites for tithing down to their spices but neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness (Matt 23:23). This is also apparent in Leviticus 19:5, “When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the LORD, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf” (cf. with Samuel’s words to Saul in 1 Sam 15:22b). In other words, a sacrifice could look good to the community and be accepted by the priest, but not be accepted by God because the person’s heart was not for God—he was neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness, or doing the bare minimum that the law demanded. I have been challenged to look at my own life—am I being legalistic with other people, forcing them into a mold of spirituality, or am I giving grace to them, being merciful and faithful?

d20

Fun quiz, Megillicutty!




You are the large, round, friendly d20! (You probably didn't know this, but the shape of the twenty-sided die is called an Icosahedron.) You are the friendly, outgoing, outspoken, leader of friends. You are often looked up to, even though you don't normally deserve it. Most other types secretly wish they were you, and you'd give them tips on how, if only you had a clue yourself. Your charisma is often all you need, but you have your occasional moments of brilliance as well—just never when it's actually needed. You are the all-around good guy, a dependable chum, a respectable foe, and an inspiration to those who need one. Who says you can't get by on a smile and good looks alone?

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

"But you have your occasional moments of brilliance as well—just never when it's actually needed." —Wow! That is so true and frustrates me to no end.

how monk-ish are you?

Since my friends seem to be into playing games such as figuring out which Star Trek character they are, I thought I'd add this into the mix. One of my current favorite t.v. shows is "Monk" on USA. If you don't know, Adrian Monk is a former homicide detective for the San Francisco PD. He works as a consultant solving murder investigations for them. He's like a Sherlock Holmes character in his ability to find clues. And he has total recall. He also has a myriad of phobias as well as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

I took the "Are You Monk-ish?" quiz on USA's Web site. Here are my results (don't laugh too hard):
Emily, you are more Monk-ish than most.
Wow! You're definitely more concerned with cleanliness and routine than the average person. This keeps you well organized, but your friends are probably making jokes about you behind your back. Take a deep breath, leave the hand sanitizer at home, go totally nuts and actually step on the cracks of the sidewalk once in a while. You'll see it's fun to occasionally break out of you comfortable cocoon.

I will mention this: the quiz only asks 10 questions, but if you take it more than once, you'll see that the questions are not the same each time. So, if they ask the right ones, you may find that you're even more monk-ish than you first thought!

Oh, and I'm not the one with the mammoth container of Purell in my office.

Take the quiz.

this week in tech

This could be a comment on Brian's blog, but I decided to update my own site instead.

I strongly agree that Steve Wosniak should not be on TWiT. I could only get through about 15 minutes of Episode 40 before I turned it off. He wouldn't stop talking. And then he threw in political comments about the war in Iraq. What does that have to do with the "last word in tech?" As for Dvorak, did you hear him rail on Leo this week for gushing on Wosniak?

Grammar question:
If you have a quote at the end of a sentence with punctuation that is not a part of the quote (e.g., "last word in tech?") do you put the question mark inside or outside of the quote ("last word in tech"?)?
And then there's this parenthetical issue, too.