Jeopardy Question…
When Moses, Aaron, Nadah, Abihu saw God, what was under God’s feet?
Answer: something that was like a pavement of sappire stone
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Yesterday I attended a diversity forum for one of my social work classes. The panel included a Jewish gentleman who serves as the rabbi of a local Jewish synagogue. A student asked the rabbi what the Jewish community’s general view of a social worker was. He said that the Jewish community generally viewed social work in a positive light, as they as a people affirm God’s mandate to take care of the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner.
Today I read the following scripture:
You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. -Exodus 23:9
It is interesting that God calls His people to not oppress foreigners that reside in their land as that He recalls to the Israelite’s mind that they too understood what oppression in a foreign land was like.
As I was thinking about this verse, a few lyrics from a song by Derek Webb came into mind:
who’s your brother, who’s your sister
you just walked passed him
i think you missed her
as we’re all migrating to the place where our father lives
’cause we married in to a family of immigrants
I remember when I first realized what this verse meant, as it was very impacting to my worldview. We as Christians are part of a family of people who have migrated to our faith. Each of us has fallen to sin and has been saved by God’s grace. There isn’t a single one of us who has inherited their Christianity. Sure, one may have grown up influenced by the faith of the environment around them but in the end, that person still must choose to accept and follow God or not. That leaves not one of us with a claim of entitlement to the gift of salvation.
We who have received so many blessings spiritually and materially are called to bless others. Jesus called us to love and take care of our neighbors as we love and take care of ourselves. I believe this includes the modern immigrant to America. I know that I do not deserve ANY of the blessings that have come my way, therefore there is no reason for me to feel entitled to any of them. This includes the country that I happened to be born into. I would like to encourage anyone who may actually read this to love your immigrant neighbor as you do yourself. Blow past the sterotypes you may have and seek ways in which you can love the foreigner! After all, you come from a family of immigrants -physically and spiritually.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Yet Another Jeopardy Question
From where did the gold come from to make the calf idol?
Answer: from the gold rings that were on the ears of the Israelites’ wives, sons, and daughters (Exodus 32:2)
Uncategorized | Comment (0)A Bride’s Thoughts…
Last week, I was privileged to be a part of the first group to perform a simulation for the class. The topic that we chose was in regards to marriage and how it was carried out during the times of Jacob and Rachel. I found it quite interesting to be able to undertake the study of this particular subject. As I learned about the woman’s role in the process -how her father bartered goods with her perspective father-in-law so that she might be able to marry his son. I pondered upon what it must have been like for a bride to have met her future husband until the day of their wedding. I wondered what it must have been like to have left the family that you grew up in, possibly never to see them again. I can only imagine what the bride must have been feeling through all of this –excitement for the new adventure that marriage would bring, importance because of the knowledge that she would be assisting in the securing of her family’s future through marriage, and sadness as she faced the prospect of never seeing her family again. Though I tend to shy away from trying to understand her through my 21st century eyes, surely some of these thoughts and feelings must be universal and timeless. It is in those universal and timeless thoughts and feelings where I have begun to gain insight into the bride’s perspective of so long ago. And what’s more, I have begun to relate (hopefully) understand the ancient Biblical bride, as I realize that we have more in common than I thought!
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Jeopardy Question
Where were Laban’s household gods hidden in Isaac’s household?
Answer: In a camel’s saddle underneath Rachel
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Two perspectives
Today at church there was a guest speaker who told the story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael. Her objective was to pull the church body into the story and find themselves reflected in the pain and sin, thus finding the hope that God offers. The speaker spoke of the part of the story where Sarah demanded Abraham to put Hagar and her son out, because Ishamael was not to inherit of what Isaac would. She told it differently than I had previously understood it. In the story Abraham was distressed at Sarah’s demands. God responded to Abraham’s distress by telling him to listen to Sarah because the promise He gave Sarah and Abraham would come true. God then told Abraham that he would also make a nation out of Ishmael. The speaker at church said that God never told Abraham to follow through with Sarah’s demands, but was referring instead to the affirmation that God’s promise would be fulfilled. Abraham chose to relent to Sarah’s demands, but not because God instructed him to do so. God was only saying that he was affirming Sarah’s words about Isaac being promised seed of Abraham.
I had always thought that God was in fact telling Abraham to obey Sarah’s demands. That never sat well with me. I always thought that God did not condone evil but allowed for it because He also gave us free will. If God is all that is good, then why would He tell Abraham to relent to something so evil?
Though this new interpretation of this text made more sense to my picture of who God is, it still was not how I had understood it. So, I opened my pocket New King James version Bible and read the text, which read as follows:
“But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman because he is your seed.” (Genesis 21:12-13, NKJV).
After reading this, I could see how the speaker could interpret the story in this way, and my attitude towards this story grew more hopeful. Maybe Abraham got it wrong in this case, and maybe God wasn’t condoning such a horrible act! Upon returning home, I pulled out my New Revised Standard Version Bible to see if they interpreted it in this more favorable way. I was disappointed, as read the following:
“But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.” (Genesis 21:12)
In reading this text, it seemed clear to me that my original unsettling thoughts regarding this passage were true. I could not see how this could be interpreted in any other way than to understand that God was telling Abraham to obey Sarah’s demands and cast out his own wife and son.
The story went on to tell of how even in the act of casting out Hagar, God still provided for her and her son. His promise of a nation springing forth from Ishmael came true. But the pain and anguish that Hagar and Ishmael must have felt still lingers. Her intense grief that she suffered as she placed her only son under a tree to die does not sit well inside my soul as I remember that it was God who not only allowed but condoned this tragedy to occur. I find it difficult to reconcile my own knowledge of God’s ultimate goodness with this story -God, who calls His people throughout history to care for the widows, orphans, and the foreigner.
So which translation is more accurate? And what does the outcome of that answer mean for how we understand God? If the NRSV version is more accurate, then what does this mean to how I perceive God? As I wrestled with these thoughts, I began to reflect on God’s ultimate goodness through the provision and caring for of all four of these characters, particularly in God’s interaction with Hagar. At her ultimate point of despair and fear, God spoke to her personally, and encouraged her not to fear! God then affirmed his earlier promise to her that He would make a great nation out of Ishmael. Earlier in the story when the reader finds Hagar at another point of despair, the LORD spoke to her. God did not forget her. This is what I cling to in this story, and it is there where I find the God’s ultimate goodness.
(photo taken from: http://www.robertmcfarlanephotos.com/0077_Grieving.woman_Cherbourg_Aboriginal_Community_1988_from_AFTER_200_YEARS_268x182.JPG)
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